The Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS) has authorized the transfer of parts of OKD to the state-owned Diamo. The government approved the transfer in September and is part of the termination of mining in OKD mines.
“The Office stated that the merger would not result in a significant distortion of competition. The acquired parts of OKD’s plants will no longer be active in hard coal mining and sales after the takeover; on the contrary, they will remain active in the sale of degassed gas and real estate leasing. OKD HZBS Commercial Plant then finds out the mining rescue service, rehabilitates the mined mining works, collects and sells ashes, “said UOHS.
According to the government’s decision of September 21, the individual parts of OKD will gradually be transferred to the state enterprise Diamo. OKD will lay off 548 employees as of January 1 next year, of which about 200 will remain with Diamo. In March 2021, another 1,400 employees would be laid off.
The state-owned company Diamo will take over the individual parts of OKD gradually. At the beginning of next year, it will be the Staříč, Frenštát, Dukla, and Lazy mines. At the beginning of March, the Darkov and ČSA mines will be added, followed by the ČSM-sever and ČSM-jih mines, including the related mining areas of Louka and Stonava.
Mining at all OKD mines should be completed at the end of 2022. According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the costs of phasing out mining at OKD mines by 2035 will be 15.6 billion crowns.