Preserving biodiversity

KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. does not operate in, or in the direct vicinity of, areas of outstanding natural heritage (defined as national parks, nature reserves or Nature 2000 areas). Areas of high natural habitat or landscape value, covered by various forms of protection schemes, are located from a few to over a dozen kilometres away from the Company’s operating sites, amongst which it is worth noting the following:

“Forest Carbon Farms” project

Since 2018, KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. has been participating in the so-called “Forest Carbon Farms” project, developed and conducted by the General Directorate of The State Forests with the idea of rebuilding forests and afforesting new areas in order to reduce the presence of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere through increased CO₂ absorption by forest complexes.

The Forest Carbon Farms project was implemented in 2017 by the State Forests. It is a pilot program, with its implementation scheduled until 2026 and sustainability assured for a period of thirty years. Currently, the Forest Carbon Farm project is carried out in twenty-three forest districts in thirteen regional directorates of the State Forests. The project is supervised by the General Directorate of The State Forests and is fully funded by the Forest Fund. The clearly defined objective of the pilot project is to increase existing forest carbon stocks and the carbon dioxide storage capacity of these ecosystems. Reducing CO₂ emissions from soils and mitigating the risk of uncontrolled emissions of this gas due to disasters is also important.

Peregrine falcon

In 2008, the Głogów Copper Smelter and Refinery recorded an unsuccessful nesting attempt of a peregrine falcon. To allow falcons to breed safely, a decision was taken to mount a breeding box on one of the smelter’s stacks. In autumn 2008, the breeding box was mounted on the stack of the Głogów II Copper Smelter and Refinery, the so-called “little clover”. The felicitous nature of this location was confirmed on 31 March 2009, when 3 peregrine falcon eggs were found in the mounted nest. Three nestlings hatched after a month. They were ringed in mid-May, and left their home for good in August.

In 2011, the Company took actions to allow the falcon family to be watched on-line. Since 2012, the life of the Głogów falcons can be viewed online on the “Sokół” Association website. Every year, the names for the birds are chosen in a contest held on the “Sokół” Association website. KGHM is a co-organizer of the contest and funds awards for the winners. In 2022, another three falcons hatched. Two male and one female. Since the breeding box was mounted in the Głogów II Copper Smelter and Refinery, 43 falcons have successfully hatched, and 42 of them have been leg-banded.

Ecological site – “Łęgi Głogowskie”

On 28 October 2005, at the request of the Głogów Copper Smelter and Refinery staff, the Lower Silesia Voivode formally established the “Łęgi Głogowskie” ecological site, to protect the important natural features of, among others, the old Odra riverbed, vegetation clusters, from water plants and reedbeds to rich deciduous forests with a multitude of protected flora and fauna species. The site covers a terrace area of 605.6 ha between the Odra River’s embankments, and stretches over land to which KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. holds a legal title.

Every year, the Głogów Copper Smelter and Refinery undertakes treatment measures to maintain the area, restore habitats and protect the species living in the “Łęgi Głogowskie” ecological site. In 2022, these measures included: mowing meadows in a way that leaves patches of late-ripening vegetation (Cnidion dubii communities – celery meadows) and mowing reed rushes in meadow habitats, removing self-seeding trees and shrubs growing expansively into valuable tree and meadow habitats, planting shrubs of native species compatible with the forest habitat type in places where plantations of foreign trees have been removed, setting up shelters for birds, hanging day shelters for bats and nesting boxes for birds, constructing clay and wooden structures, i.e. substitute habitats for insects nesting in clay, cleaning works – systematic removal of illegal waste by third parties.

“Copper Bees”

In 2022, KGHM Polska Miedź S.A., together with the Polish Spa Group [Polska Grupa Uzdrowisk], carried out the “Copper Bees” project related to the protection of bees. As part of the project, additional apiaries were created at facilities belonging to the Polish Spa Group and KGHM Polska Miedź S.A., in which southern European bees started to live. 10 beehives were located at the Staropolanka water bottling plant in Uzdrowisko Kłodzkie, 3 beehives at the mud mine in Uzdrowisko Połczyn Zdrój and 3 beehives at the LVI mine shaft at the Lubin Mining Plant. Each hive housed around 70,000 bees. The beehives were painted by young inhabitants of the Copper Basin during beekeeping workshops organised by KGHM.

Protecting biodiversity at KGHM INTERNATIONAL LTD.

The Carlota mine oversees 1.21 ha of marshlands. One of the marshes keeps water year round, which is rare in the desert climate of the southwestern United States.

Moreover, Carlota has grown and takes care of about 100 specimens of hedgehog cactuses, which initially grew in the windows of its office building and are currently overgrowing the buttress wall of the pit. The care provided to the plants has ensured their survival rate comparable to the natural one.

Throughout 2022, Carlota employees have been looking after the endangered hedgehog cactus species by watering them during the dry months, collecting seeds and looking after the site where the plants are growing.

The Victoria Project, as required by the Canadian Endangered Species Act, protects the whooping cottontail (Antrostomus vociferus) habitat, among other things by limiting plant development activities outside its existing boundaries during the nesting season and by providing endangered species training to all new employees. The Victoria Project also protects turtles based on its Turtle Protection and Mitigation Plan.