General information and occurrence

Industrial dolomites are widely used for smelting iron and steel (as a flux), in the glass industry (the so-called "dolomite flours"), the ceramic industry, the refractory industry (the roast dolomite) and in the agriculture sector. The dolomite deposits which are used in the construction industry and in the road construction (as the building and crushed stones) are discussed separately in the section Dimension and crushed stones.

The industrial dolomites deposits occur in southern Poland, mainly in Śląskie Voivodeship, there is only one deposit documented in Dolnośląskie Voivodeship. The raw material deposits of the best quality, matching the limit criteria for smelters, occur in the area of Silesia-Cracow region. The deposits are of a stratified type and Devonian and Triassic in age. The second type of the dolomite deposits forms lenses within metamorphic schists in Sudety Mts. Such dolomites are used in the ceramic industry, the construction industry and the road construction. The best known of them is Rędziny deposit. However, the biggest deposit of this type (Ołdrzychowice-Romanowo), located in the area of the Kłodzko Basin, is placed in the chapter Dimension and crushed stones as the raw material from the deposit is the basic compound for the production of building grits.

The dolomite deposits occurrence is presented on the map.

Resources and output

The Table 1 shows resources and the state of development and exploration of the dolomite deposits.

Table 1. Dolomite - million tonnes

The anticipated economic resources of dolomites amounted to 496.15 million tonnes in 2020 and decreased by 2.78 million tonnes (it means by 0.56%) in comparison with the previous year. That was the result of the exploitation and losses.

The anticipated economic resources of exploited deposits amounted to 202.05 million tonnes in 2020 and accounted for 40.72% of the total anticipated economic resources. The resources covered by the detailed exploration (categories A+B, C₁) were equal 338.13 million tonnes (68.15% of the total anticipated economic resources). Such explored resources within exploited deposits accounted for 98.12% of the anticipated economic resources (198.26 million tonnes).

The economic resources of dolomites in 2020 decreased due to the exploitation and losses by 2.79 million tonnes (2.18%) and were equal 125.47 million tonnes. These resources accounted only for 25.29% of the total anticipated economic resources.

The output of dolomites amounted to 2,696.93 thousand tonnes in 2020, decreasing by 126.36 thousand tonnes (4.48%) in relation to the previous year. It resulted from the significant drop of the output from Ząbkowice Będzinskie I deposit – by 277.45 thousand tonnes (33.62%). In the case of other exploited deposits, there were output growths recorded: for Chruszczobród 2 deposit by 105.17 thousand tonnes (25.95%), for Brudzowice deposit by 40.26 thousand tonnes (2.96%), and for Rędziny deposit by 5.66 thousand tonnes (2.42%).

The figure given below shows changes in domestic resources and production of dolomite in Poland in the years 1989-2020.

Table 2. List of dolomites deposits – thousand tonnes

In the latest edition of The balance of prospective mineral resources of Poland*, the assessment of resources prospective for dolomites in Poland was updated. The main criteria adopted for establishing the industrial dolomite deposits were: the overburden thickness (maximum of 15 m), the overburden thickness to the deposit thickness ratio (maximum 0.3) and the MgO content (minimum of 16%). Moreover, there were the quality requirements for the raw material taken into account in terms of the Fe₂O₃, Al₂O₃, CaO and SiO₂ contents – it defines the raw material suitability for the particular industrial application. As the result of such attitude, the prognostic resources of dolomites were assessed to be equal 504.20 million tonnes within 12 areas – 8 of them in Dolnośląskie Voivodeship, 3 in Śląskie Voivodeship and 1 in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship.