Velenje mine

Velenje mine is a lignite mine which is owned and operated by government-owned Premogovnik Velenje. The mine is located near Velenje in Slovenia.

Background
The "major part" of the approximately 4 million tonnes of lignite and brown coal produced a year is supplied to the nearby Sostanj Power Station.

Euracoal, a European coal industry lobby group, states on its website that the mine boasts "one of the thickest known coal layers in the world (up to 165 metres). The company’s long-term strategy is to operate the mine until 2054, as it is likely to remain Slovenia’s only exploitable energy resource for the next 50 years."

A review of the geology of the deposit being mined states that "due to surface subsidence, wide lakes formed above abandoned and present underground mining activity" to the north of the mine and the nearby power station.

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