KGHM is a modern, innovative enterprise which emphasises stability, responsibility and development of its employees and the organization. The State Treasury is the largest shareholder of the Company, holding 63 589 900 shares, which represents 31.79% of its share capital. The cutting-edge methodology of excavating and processing copper ore applied by KGHM Polska Miedź S.A., as well as its modern organization and management systems allow to produce copper and silver and other raw materials without which the development of modern technologies would have been impossible, in an environmentally-friendly manner. In accordance with the corporate slogan, KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. creates the future by producing traditional raw materials for today.

The discovery of a rich deposit of copper ore in the very heart of Europe – the largest single deposit on the entire continent, made on 23 March 1957 by Ph.D. Eng. Jan

Wyżykowski, was one of the greatest geological sensations of the second half of the 20th century. It changed the image of the entire region, which was turned into one of the most important and most modern industrial regions in Poland.

KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. has a fully integrated process in which the end-product of one stage is the half-finished product used in the next stage. Currently, excavated deposits are at the depth from 600 to 1 300 meters, but KGHM is already constructing shafts which will make it possible to exploit deposits at the depth of 1 400 meters. If we assume that for the coming 15–20 years the mining production will remain at the current level, the viability of the mining plants owned by the Company is estimated for the following 40–50 years.

Copper ore is transported from the mines to processing plants for enrichment. As a result, copper concentrate is produced. Ore Enrichment Plants manufacture approximately 2 million tonnes of the concentrate annually, containing approximately 24% of copper, which is delivered to smelters in which it is smelted and fire refined into copper anodes. This is subsequently subjected to electrolytic refinement into copper cathodes. From these cathodes, wire rod and round billets are produced. KGHM mines extract approximately 30 million tonnes of copper ore annually, containing 1.64% of the “red gold” and considerable amounts of silver. And from above the deposits of copper ore, rock-salt is excavated.