As Jordan Pandoff, CEO of Lumina Metals, points out, Poland may become the EU's copper leader. Raw material resources can make us the winner of the energy transition. Despite the interest of foreign capital, the construction of new mines still faces barriers that cannot be bypassed.

According to information provided on the wnp.pl portal by Jordan Pandoff, CEO of the Canadian company Lumina Metals, Poland currently has the largest reserves of critical raw materials in the entire European Union. During the European Economic Congress, the expert emphasized that our country has a chance to become the main beneficiary of global demand for copper and silver, but the implementation of this scenario is still prevented by high fiscal burdens and complicated procedures.

The tax system as the main brake

Despite its enormous geological potential, the mining sector in Poland faces challenges that effectively cool the enthusiasm of investors. The most serious of these is the level of fiscal burdens. Jordan Pandoff, CEO of the Canadian company Lumina Metals, in an interview with wnp.pl pointed directly to this problem: "The total tax burden, including income tax, reaches about 70 percent, which significantly hinders investment decisions." In this way, the expert referred to the tax on the extraction of certain minerals, which has been in force since 2012.

Capital is looking for projects, but time is running out

Paradoxically, the problem of the global market is not the lack of funds for investments, but the shortage of ready-made, high-quality mining projects. In this respect, Poland is advantageous as a stable destination with appropriate infrastructure, but time remains an insurmountable barrier. The investment in the area of Nowa Sól, carried out by Lumina, has been going on for over a decade. Jordan Pandoff emphasized in the wnp.pl studio: "We started in 2012, and today – after more than a decade of work – we are at the stage of designing the mine and obtaining permits." It is estimated that the real construction could start only in 4-5 years.

Advantage thanks to tradition and cooperation with KGHM

However, Poland has advantages that countries such as France or Germany lack. It is primarily a high social acceptance for the mining industry and a rich industrial base. New projects also do not have to mean competition for the domestic giant – KGHM. The strategy of the new investors assumes cooperation in which the newly established mines would supply copper concentrate directly to Polish smelters, which is a logistically optimal solution.

According to the CEO of Lumina, Polish deposits are extremely attractive not only because of copper, but also because of the high content of silver and associated metals, such as cobalt, vanadium and rhenium. As Pandoff summed up in wnp.pl: "If some elements are improved, such as the tax system, the prospects for the development of new mines are very positive." Without systemic changes, however, Polish natural resources may remain only a potential on paper for a long time.