Mining and Energy Supply
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Mining and Energy Supply Mining By international comparison, ore mining in At the same time, the solid and liquid re- Hungary was a signifi cant industry during sources that are available, represent a colossal the Middle Ages. value and there is an ample supply of certain The country was also a leader in gold energy-rich materials, ores, and minerals (coal, mining in 13th century Europe (two fi ft hs of lignite, bauxite, limestone, etc.), which arises world production), and ranked second in sil- due to the specifi c geological structure and ver mining (one quarter). character of the Carpathian Basin. The world’s first mining school Even though the domestic mining of (‘Bergschola’) was founded in 1735 in the most natural resources might be limited, and Kingdom of Hungary at Selmecbánya the country is strongly import-oriented, avail- (Schemnitz, today Banská Štiavnica in able resources play a fundamental role in the Slovakia), which was bestowed the rank of a national economy, being an important factor mining academy (‘Bergakademie’) by Empress in its sustainability and contributing to the Maria Theresia in 1770. gradual improvement in living standards. The once famous precious metals mining At the end of 2007, the National Cadastre industry had fallen into decline by the early of Resources registered 23.8 billion tons of in- 19th century, but economic prosperity during dustrial (recoverable), and 37.7 billion tons of the time of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy geological reserves at 3,600 locations. lent a new impetus to iron ore production and Projections indicate 480 billion tons of the quarrying of construction materials. industrial, and 644 billion tons of, as yet-to- Following World War I, almost all the fi nd (prospective) natural resources nation- ore and salt mines, hydrocarbon resources and wide. one-third of coal deposits had been annexed About eighty diff erent mineral products by the Treaty of Trianon, as they were in ter- are known to be found in the country’s ter- ritories awarded to neighbouring countries. rain, 98.5% of which (by weight) are proven Aft er World War II, as was the case in reserves of solid minerals (37.7 billion tons). most Eastern Bloc countries, the share of min- Of the nation’s total mineral reserves, ing rose within overall industrial output, as a 67.4% are non-metallic mineral resources, result of hasty industrialisation and the con- 28% coals, 3.1% ores, and 1.5% are hydrocar- siderable eff orts required to meet the country’s bons (Table 30). demand from domestic resources for fuel, as Lignite, non-metallic mineral resources well as other raw materials. and certain construction materials represent Over the past thirty years or so, the spe- the greatest quantities, and are of considerable cifi c problems experienced by some branches fi nancial value. within the mining industry, and imperatives of Hungary is ranked among the fi ve lead- effi ciency, have led to a mining crisis and the ing producers of gallium and perlite in the drop in its share within industrial production world, whilst it occupies a rank of between from 11.2% (1950) down to 0.5% (2008). tenth and twentieth largest producer of baux- Hungary is a country with limited natu- ite, lignite and manganese. ral resources. 139 140 Table 30. Mineral resources (2008) Industrial Undiscovered Average life-expectancy of reserves at Production in Geological reserves reserves (hypothetical) 2007 production levels based on total Type of mineral 2007 01.01.2008 01.01.2008 industrial reserve extractable resources million tons years Crude oil 0.84 207.0 19.2 10-58 23 Natural gas* 2.65 5,307.0*** 3,355.3*** 29-93 25 (>50***) Carbon dioxide gas** 0.11 46.14 32.4 .. > 100 Hard coal .. 1,596.7 1,986.2 336 no production Brown coal 1.45 3,199.7 2,245.5 975 > 100 Lignite 8.35 5,782.2 4,376.8 1,236 > 100 Uranium ore .. 26.8 26.8 7 no production Iron ore .. 43.1 43.6 37 no production Bauxite 0.5 127.0 82.0 151 > 100 Lead-zinc ore .. 90.8 100.2 192 no production Copper ore .. 781.2 726.5 276 no production Precious metals .. 36.6 36.5 21 no production Manganese ore 0.05 79.6 52.6 9 > 100 Non-metallic minerals 3.0 3,200.0 1,002.4 16,004 > 100 Raw materials for the cement and lime industry 5.5 2,872.3 1,301.0 17,307 > 100 Dimension and crushed stone 13.0 4,220.1 2,362.7 99,549 > 100 Construction sand, gravel 34.8 8,035.8 4,855.0 203,648 > 100 Clays for the ceramic industry 4.9 1,889.8 1,074.5 141,131 > 100 Peat, paludal lime mud 0.1 182.0 110.4 .. > 100 Total 75.3 37,723.8 23,789.6 .. .. Remarks: * 1000 m3 natural gas = 1 t crude oil. ** 1000 m3 gas = 1 t. *** including non-conventional Makó deposit. Source: Hungarian Mining and Geological Institute (www.mbfh .hu) Solid Mineral Resources Explored geological reserves of non-metal- Nyergesújfalu. The largest extraction centres lic mineral resources represent 20.4 billion for dimension and crushed stones are in the North tons, 52.5% of which is economical to recover. Hungarian and Transdanubian Mountains: Nearly 80% of the annual output of the more limestone (Tatabánya, Eger and Sütt ő); dolomite than 1,100 functioning quarries (61.4 million (Iszkaszentgyörgy, Gánt and Keszthely); basalt tons in 2007) is construction sand, gravel, di- (Várvölgy-Uzsa); and andesite (Tállya, Kisnána, mension and crushed stone. This volume of Márianosztra and Bercel). Additives used in production guarantees a long-term supply for the production of concrete (construction gravel the Hungarian processing industry and facili- and sand of fl uvial origin) are mainly found tates the export of some products, e.g. perlite, in the alluvial fans of the Danube, Sajó, Lajta glass sand and construction gravel. One can and Mura rivers (e.g. Bugyi, Kiskunlacháza, conclude that Hungary has a medium level of Hejőpapi, Nyékládháza, Hegyeshalom and non-metallic mineral resources, and the coun- Muraszemenye). The mining of clays for the try is even rich in some of them (e.g. quartz ceramic industry (bricks and tiles) shows a sand, perlite, bentonite, gypsum and zeo- relatively uniform spatial patt ern. The larg- lite) to be found in the North Hungarian and est clay pits are along the Danube (Bugyi and Transdanubian Mountains (Figure 118). Due to Dunavarsány), in the north (Görömböly and Hungary’s geological endowments (its base- Tiszavasvári), and in Transdanubia (Várvölgy- ment position in the Carpathian Basin) there Uzsa and Devecser). The main deposits of peat is an oversupply of building materials. High (as a fuel and raw material for the manufac- capacity limestone quarries, supplying raw ma- ture of fertilisers) can be found in South West terials for the cement and lime industry, operate Transdanubia (near Litt le Balaton). at Vác, Miskolc, Beremend, Nagyharsány and 141 Coals. Although coal mining in Hungary output. Pannonian lignite with its low heating started at Brennbergbánya-Sopron as early as quality is economically recoverable by strip min- 1753, industrial-scale production gained mo- ing and used for energy generation. There are mentum with the expansion of steamship navi- 4.4 billion tons of workable reserves in deposits gation on the Danube, and the spread of steam along the southern foothills of the Mátra and powered fl our mills over the country, from the Bükk mountains (Visonta and Bükkábrány) and 1830s onwards. along the border with Austria (Torony). They During the era of the Austro-Hungarian may prove to be instrumental in diversifying Monarchy, it was dynamic industrialisation and the power supply, rendering it less dependent the rapid expansion of the railway network that on imports. was the main consumer. Subsequently electricity Ores. Prior to World War II the centres generation has become the primary consumer, of ore mining (on the present territory of the and coal production has increased from 2 mil- country) were Gánt (bauxite), Úrkút and Eplény lion tons up to 8 million tons. (manganese), Rudabánya (iron) and Recsk (cop- Following World War II, the coal mining per). During the socialist era, due to the dynamic branch (nationalised by then) was expected to development of the aluminium industry, pro- rise to the challenges presented by enforced so- duction of bauxite steadily increased, reaching cialist industrialisation, with its highly power- nearly 3 million tons in 1980, only to decline intensive activities, and output had grown to considerably aft er 1990. Owing to the deterio- 31.5 million tons by 1964. The oil crisis in 1973 rating geological conditions and high costs of led to the stabilisation of production at around production, bauxite mining as become uncom- an annual 25 million tons until the mid-1980s. petitive on the world market and output has re- Since then, due to the increasing effi ciency of cently dropped down to 0.5 million tons. Bauxite fuels, economic crises and the ineffi ciency of is currently mined at Halimba, Bakonyoszlop, domestic mining, most deep shaft mines have Nyirád and Óbarok. been closed (Figure 119). The bulk of the output Geological reserves worthy of mention of 10 million tons per year is lignite with a low but not presently economical to recover, are calorifi c value, mined opencast. non-ferrous metal ores (copper, zinc, lead, etc.) in the Mátra Mountains (key depos- its at Recsk), and precious metal reefs at Nagybörzsöny, Recsk, Telkibánya and Füzérradvány, locations where gold and silver have been mined for centuries.