In August 2024, the London Metal Exchange reported the discovery of giant copper deposits in Germany, in the Tannenberg area of Hesse. The discovery was made by the Australian company GreenX Metal Limited through its Warsaw subsidiary, using Polish geological data and KGHM’s expertise. The deposit lies at a shallow depth of 300–500 metres, and historic estimates indicate 728,000 tonnes of copper and 6.5 million ounces of silver. Although two years have passed since the discovery, Poland has remained completely silent on the matter. The government has not authorised KGHM to hold any talks, and the reason is a lawsuit Poland lost against GreenX for compensation of around PLN 1.2 billion.
Information about the discovery of giant copper ore deposits in Germany, near the town of Tannenberg, was first published in August 2024 by the London Metal Exchange (LME). Since then, a few news items on the subject have appeared in Poland, suggesting a Polish-German agreement on their development. This was all the more justified because the Australian company GreenX Metal Limited made the discovery through its subsidiary based in Warsaw.
It did not hide the fact that it owed the discovery to Polish information on the geology of these deposits, exploited by KGHM in Lubin. Abundant sources of all materials, studies and analyses on the subject are widely available in the library of the Polish Geological Institute (PIG) in Warsaw, which Australian geologists, with the help of their Polish colleagues, diligently studied. On both the Polish and Australian sides, this all took place on a legal and transparent footing. Our foreign partners have always appreciated this and emphasised the importance of Polish scientific findings for their German discoveries.
The Tannenberg project is located in Hesse, in the heart of German industry, with shallow copper and silver mineralisation in a historically mined area. Future Polish-German cooperation in this field is favoured by the relatively close distance of our copper mining centre to its German counterpart, about 400 km in a straight line west of the Polish deposits in Lower Silesia.
Archives instead of fieldwork
Research on newly discovered copper ore deposits achieves greater success through archival work than through costly drilling. It focuses on such work carried out in the past, the drill cores and documentation of which have survived to this day. These are a total of 142 historical boreholes, made in two phases: 95 during the National Socialist campaign of the 1930s and 47 from exploration after the 1970s. Added to this are the files of three fully documented underground mines, with results from over 15,000 unique drill core samples from the Reichenberg mine alone. Detailed mine plans with thickness measurements throughout the workings and comprehensive information on geological structures and stratigraphy have also been preserved.
The Australian five-person company GreenX outsources most of the work to external contractors, focusing itself on coordination and interpretation of the results obtained. It has a historical estimate from 1940 indicating 728,000 tonnes of copper, based on an outdated geological model and completely excluding silver. It also has an assessment from 1984 indicating thicker mineralisation and significant silver resources.
Currently, it has modern analyses from 2025 confirming the content and showing intercepts up to 3.7 metres thick with consistent silver mineralisation. The deposit lies very shallow, up to 500 metres depth in the Richelsdorf area, much shallower than other similar projects. It has excellent infrastructure in central Germany with road and rail access, an established industrial base, and a mining-friendly regulatory environment.
Resource estimates
GreenX expects significant copper resources in the newly discovered deposits. As it is a listed company, it does not disclose their scale without justified calculations and studies. It cites historical estimates indicating considerable copper and silver potential, such as those from 1940. They confirm resources of 728,000 tonnes of copper at 2.6 percent copper in ore. The 1984 estimates add a further 169,000 tonnes of copper and 6.5 million ounces of silver. The latest analysis results confirm historical grades and wider mineralisation, with intervals of about 1.5 metres at 2.7% copper and 55 g/t silver.
The exploration licence covers an area of 1,900 square kilometres. With a productive deposit thickness of 2 metres and the deposit occurring over nearly half of this area, estimated resources could approach 2 billion tonnes of ore at 2% copper, giving about 40 million tonnes of copper with a potential value of nearly $500 billion, plus half that value from the silver content. These calculations are very approximate but indicate the scale of potential profits that this investment could theoretically bring.
These discoveries are economically much more favourable than similar deposits in Poland. Above all, they lie at a depth of about 300–500 metres, in a flat anticline geological structure reaching to the surface. Published materials from the London Stock Exchange (Acquiring Large Scale Copper Project In Germany) and their comparison with Polish copper deposits indicate a similar scale of resources. In several boreholes made on the southern edge of the licence area, sensational results were obtained both in terms of deposit thickness (within 1.5–3.45 m) and copper content (1.0 to 3.7 percent Cu). The company that discovered the German copper ore deposits cites American literature on the European Zechstein basin, to which the copper ore deposits occurring in sedimentary rocks are related.
Polish silence
The few notes that have appeared on this subject in the domestic media over the past two years have gone unheard by the government and professional circles responsible for our mining industry. This is also a phenomenon, as our Chilean and American copper mines are constantly written about, down to the smallest details. Meanwhile, when a German KGHM equivalent is emerging just across our western border, there is silence.
Formally, it is not known what causes this. Dealing with this issue falls within the competence of the State Geologist and the subordinate Polish Geological Institute (PIG) in Warsaw, which made available the Polish materials enabling the Australian company to make this discovery. These are public materials that anyone can access after obtaining a library card.
This should not be a reason for silence on the matter. The second institution is KGHM, for which cooperation with Germany should bring mutual benefits. This company is also silent, pretending that nothing important is happening across our western border. It is an institution subordinate to the Minister of State Assets, and without his consent, no foreign investment or initiative can take place. This consent is lacking, and that is why things are as they are.
Government anger
A certain explanation for this silence of Polish institutions is the dispute over the Jan Karski mine with the aforementioned Australian company GreenX, which won a court case for compensation for withdrawal from that investment in the amount of about PLN 1.2 billion. It is all the more unfortunate that the Australian company will use this money to conduct a final exploration of the German copper ore deposits completely without our capital and professional participation.
After the international verdict in this case, the Prime Minister ordered an investigation to reveal those responsible for this situation. They will probably not be punished, as they have already borne political responsibility, losing their government positions as a result of the elections. The government’s anger at the Australian company that won the court dispute with it is understandable. However, it should not bring losses to the Polish economy, and ignoring the German copper discoveries points precisely to that.
Concern for the domestic copper industry
The Polish government consists of politicians who, in the interest of the future of our copper industry, should move beyond humanly justified anger. The penalty in the lost case needs to be paid as soon as possible, and formal business cooperation should be proposed to GreenX, authorising KGHM to represent our interests.
This is necessary because future cooperation in developing the German copper deposits could bring us many times greater profits than the penalty paid in the lost case. And that should be the goal of the government and the domestic copper industry. Perhaps GreenX will reject our proposal, but that is what politicians are for – to overcome mutual distrust and start creative work on the German deposits, instead of passively watching a copper giant grow just across our border, which, as a result of further disputes, could take over our assets. This threat should be the motive for our unceasing efforts to establish cooperation, both with the Germans and the Australians, in this matter.
