Sand and gravel

Resources and output

Table 1 shows resources and the current state of exploration and development of natural sand and gravel aggregates.

Table 1. Sand and gravel - million tonnes

The anticipated economic resources of natural aggregates as of 31.12.2022 totaled 20,664.01 million tonnes. The resources increased by 471.78 million tonnes (that is by 2.34%) in relation to the previous year. The growth dynamism increased in comparison with the previous year when it was equal 1.16%.

The natural sandy-gravelly aggregates have been documented within 4 subtypes: sands, sand with gravel, gravel, loamy and silty sands. The resources of sands with the sand content above 75% amount to 10,135.96 million tonnes (increased by 480.62 million tonnes in comparison with 2021) from which 2,831.42 million tonnes are within exploited deposits. The resources of gravelly-sandy and sandy-gravelly aggregates with the sand content between 30% and 75% amount to 9,512.21 million tonnes (the drop by 3.55 million tonnes). The resources of gravel (with the sand content <30%) amount to 977.81 million tonnes (the drop by -5.72 million tonnes) and the resources of silty, loamy sands amounted to 38.03 million tonnes (the growth by 0.42 million tonnes).

The resources increased due to:

• The including into “The balance…” 340 newly documented deposits with the total resources equal above 725.8 million tonnes. In 2022, the largest resources were documented on the Polish maritime area (Baltic Sea). For the first time in 30 years there were 2 deposits documented at the bottom of the Baltic Sea: Zatoka Gdańska – obszar 1 (110.97 million tonnes) and Zatoka Gdańska – obszar 2 (187.83 million tonnes). In the second best, regarding the resources growth, Podlaskie Voivodeship, there were documented 61.37 million tonnes (35 new deposits). The biggest of these deposits are as follows: Kamionka-Drahle 3 (26.36 million tonnes), Zielone Kamedulskie VIII (9.95 million tonnes). In the following deposits: Szymany III, Rogawka Ix, Jasieniówka, Żyrwiny VI documented resources were equal 2.97 million tonnes. The resources of 11 out of all biggest newly documented deposits are equal nearly 53 million tonnes (within a range between 1.09 million tonnes and 26.36 million tonnes), that is 87% of the newly documented resources in the Voivodeship. Remaining 24 deposits contain the resources within a range of 0.09-0.9 million tonnes. In the third place, in terms of newly documented resources, there is Pomorskie Voivodeship: 45.94 million tonnes (26 deposits). The biggest newly documented deposits are: Wieprznica IIIA (13.03 million tonnes), Jałowiec II (7.01 million tonnes). However, the following deposits: Żelazno I, Dęby I, Minkowice I, Szczukowo II and Demlin XI contain the resources within a range of 2.23-2.69 million tonnes. The smallest resources volume, i.e. 2.63 million tonnes, was documented in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship (4 deposits), Śląskie Voivodeship – 5.47 million tonnes (6 deposits), Lubuskie Voivodeship – 7.59 million tonnes (4 deposits). The deposits resources approved in 2022 by the Marshalls Voivodeships amounted to 385.9 million tonnes (176 deposits), by the county mayors amounted to 40.9 million tonnes (161 deposits) and by the Minister of the Climate and Environment amounted to 298.8 million tonnes (2 deposits).
• The verification and updating of resources due to the deposit area enlargement or deepening of its range, the resources updating as a result of a longtime exploitation, the change of a deposit usage and its designation in the site management plans within the borders of which the deposit was documented, or the resources settlement after an allocation of new deposits documented within the area of previously explored. The most significant resources growths coming from new geological documentations (the supplements to documentations) were recorded for the following deposits: Ginawa (36.98 million tonnes) located in Zachodniopomorskie Voivodeship, Drogoszów II (6.85 million tonnes) located in Opolskie Voivodeship, Rywociny (10.19 million tonnes) and Zbiroża X located in Mazowieckie Voivodeship, Brzeszcze-Buczaki (4.04 million tonnes) located in Małopolskie Voivodeship. Moreover: the Ratajki V deposit in Zachodniopomorskie Voivodeship, the Józefkowo I deposit in Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodeship, the Rogawka and Mątwica VII deposits located in Podlaskie Voivodeship, the Gołaszyn and Owczary-p. Północne deposits located in Lubuskie Voivodeship, the Łazów I-Galicja located in Podkarpackie Voivodeship, the Potażniki RO and Dęby Szlacheckie-I deposits located in Wielkopolskie Voivodeship., the Ocice III deposit located in Dolnośląskie Voivodeship and the Trzebina 1 deposit located in Opolskie Voivodeship enlarged their resources from about 2 million tonnes to 4 million tonnes each.
• The balance of the resources drops and growths, established in the new documentations with recalculated resources (supplements) or being the results of the current resources verification connected with the exploitation – 51.1 million tonnes.

The resources decreased by:

• The output (170.78 million tonnes).
• The crossing 217 aggregate deposits out from the domestic resources balance – about 134.9 million tonnes in total. The biggest resources volumes were crossed out from the i.a. deposits: Deszczno-Łagodzin (-61.03 million tonnes), Deszczno-Łagodzin p. Krasowiec (-5.67 million tonnes) and Stężyca (-7.87 million tonnes) located in Lubuskie Voivodeship; Kanigowo VII (-8.87 million tonnes) in Warmińsko-Mazurskie Voivodeship; Wieprznica III (-4.98 million tonnes) in Pomorskie Voivodeship; Leżajsk – dz. 5754/82 (-2.64 million tonnes), Gniewczyna Łańcucka SW (-2.24 million tonnes) in Podkarpackie Voivodeship. In 15 deposits the remaining resources exceeded 1 million tonnes, in 54 deposits it the resources were within a range of 200-900 thousand tonnes, whereas in 38 deposits up to dozen thousand tonnes.
• The resources reduced by the new documentations with recalculated resources (the supplements) elaborated for i.a. deposits: Kalbornia-Mosznica (-4.07 million tonnes) and Różyńsk Wielki III (-5.14 million tonnes) in Warmińsko-Mazurskie Voivodeship, Olszna II-MK (-9.12 million tonnes) and Lasów-Żarka (-4.94 million tonnes) in Dolnośląskie Voivodeship, Borowiec (-5.51 million tonnes) in Małopolskie Voivodeship. The drops in 14 deposits contained the resources from about 1 million tonnes to 3.2 million tonnes, whereas in 19 deposits it was within a range between about 0.5 million tonnes and 9 million tonnes.

The resources growth in Poland, similarly to the previous years, was the result of the increases of documented resources in most of Voivodeships. The most significant increase was recorded on the Polish maritime area (Baltic Sea) and in the following Voivodeships: Zachodniopomorskie, Mazowieckie, Podlaskie, Opolskie. The table below shows changes within anticipated economic resources in particular Voivodeships in 2022.

In the deposits which were included into current “The balance…” there was mainly sand documented in the volume exceeding 569 million tonnes from which the biggest deposits are mentioned above Zatoka Gdańska – obszar 1 and Zatoka Gdańska – obszar 2. The resources of sand and gravel are equal 153 million tonnes in i.a. deposits: Kamionka-Drahle 3 (26.36 million tonnes) located in Podlaskie Voivodeship and Poborszów (24.28 million tonnes) located in Opolskie Voivodeship. New gravel resources amounted to 2.72 million tonnes and the biggest deposits are: Solarnia (0.93 million tonnes) in Opolskie Voivodeship and Sierakoście-V (0.9 million tonnes) in Podkarpackie Voivodeship. The Voivodeship distribution of the subtypes resources of the new deposits is presented below:

The total area of the deposits included into “The balance…” in 2022 amounted to 6,795 ha, including 6,513 ha (165 deposits) of the deposits with the are above 2 ha and 282 ha (175 deposits) of the deposits below 2 ha. The biggest deposits are located at the bottom of the Baltic Sea: Zatoka Gdańska – obszar 2 (1,665 ha), and Poborszów (167 ha) located in Opolskie Voivodeship, Parsęcko V (83 ha) in Zachodniopomorskie Voivodeship, Zabawa Zawale (66 ha) in Małopolskie Voivodeship, Jałowiec II (56 ha) in Pomorskie Voivodeship. The total area of the deposits crossed out from “The balance…” in 2022 was equal about 1,390 ha.

The biggest numbers of deposits are nowadays documented in the following Voivodeships: Mazowieckie (1,485), Wielkopolskie (1,306), Lubelskie (1,002), Warmińsko-Mazurskie (864), Podlaskie (856), Łódzkie (860).

The Voivodeships with the biggest documented resources are: Dolnośląskie (2,294 million tonnes), Podlaskie (1,800 million tonnes), Małopolskie (1,796 million tonnes), Opolskie (1,487 million tonnes), Mazowieckie (1,428 million tonnes) and Zachodniopomorskie (1,373 million tonnes).

The resources of deposits covered by a detailed exploration (A, B and C₁ categories) are equal 13,101.96 million tonnes and account for 63.4% of the total resources. The resources covered by the preliminary exploration (C₂ and D categories) account for 36.6% of the total resources and amount to 7,562.05 million tonnes. The resources of exploited deposits, being equal 6,251.87 million tonnes (the growth by 103.8 million tonnes in comparison with 2021), account for 30.3% of the total resources. Non-exploited deposits contain 12,545.18 million tonnes (60.7%) of resources (the growth by 308.5 million tonnes), whereas the resources of abandoned deposits are equal 1,866.96 million tonnes – the growth by 59.43 million tonnes.

The economic resources amounted in 2022 to 4,337.26 million tonnes and increased in comparison with the previous year by 12.83 million tonnes. The economic resources, established for the exploited deposits, are equal 3,618.64 million tonnes accounting for 58% of their documented resources, whereas the anticipated economic resources within the exploited deposits are equal 4,575.57 million tonnes The distribution of resources (anticipated economic, economic and anticipated economic of exploited deposits – in million tonnes) within exploited deposits in particular Voivodeships as of the end of 2022 was as follows:

In 2022, the output of sand and gravel amounted to 170.78 million tonnes. In comparison with the previous year the exploitation decreased by 14.3 million tonnes, that is by 7.7%, in contrast to 2021 when the output increased by 4.83 million tonnes. The output grew only in Pomorskie and Zachodniopomorskie Voivodeships and dropped in remaining 14 Voivodeships. The most significant drops were recorded in the following Voivodeships: Warmińsko-Mazurskie, Lubuskie, Łódzkie, Mazowieckie, Opolskie, Podkarpackie and Kujawsko-Pomorskie. In 2022, the demand for the raw materials decreased in industry areas using sandy-gravelly aggregates as: the infrastructure building sector, industrial building sector and production of concrete (i.a. ready-mix concrete) and concrete products. Nowadays, the significant part of the aggregates production absorb the large-scale infrastructure investments which, to some extent, stabilize the aggregates market. In particular Voivodeships the output balance in comparison with 2021 is as follows:

Regarding the division of deposits to the subtypes, the most intensive exploitation was recorded for sand with gravel deposits (the sand content between 30% and 75%) – 89.8 million tonnes, then for sand deposits (the sand content >75%) – 76.7 million tonnes and gravel deposits – 4 million tonnes. The detailed division in particular Voivodeships is presented below:

The number of sand and gravel deposit in 2022 amounted to 10,999 including 2,540 of exploited deposits (in this group there are deposits crossed out from the actual “balance and those for which the concessions expired and the deposits were marked as abandoned). In comparison with the previous year (2,608 deposits) the number decreased. The number of non-exploited deposits increased by 195 (from 8,264 in 2021 to 8,459 in 2022). The structure of the deposits divided according to the output volume in particular Voivodeships in 2022 is presented below:

Natural sand and gravel are also obtained during the exploitation of brown coal deposits. In 2022, the output of the raw material from non-documented deposits during the exploitation in the Bełchatów mine from the Szczerców field amounted to 939.92 thousand tonnes of sand, sand with gravel and gravel with sand.

Figure below shows changes in domestic resources and production of sand and gravel in Poland in the years 1989-2022.

Table 2. List of sand and gravel deposits - thousand tonnes

The prognostic resources of the natural sandy-gravelly aggregates are assessed to be equal more than 13 billion tonnes*. They occur quite evenly in Poland. The areas of the prospective raw material occurrences, in contrast to the prognostic ones, are of a lower exploration category – due to the evaluation based on the indirect indicators, the lack of quality tests and non-assessed resources amount.

Prepared by: Dariusz Brzeziński, Anna Kalinowska, Wojciech Miśkiewicz, Joanna Stawierej, Wojciech Szczygielski

* Kozłowska O., Smakowski T., Miśkiewicz W., 2020 - "Kruszywo naturalne piaskowo-żwirowe (natural aggregates)". In: "Bilans perspektywicznych zasobów kopalin Polski wg stanu na 31.12.2018 r." (eds. Szamałek K., Szuflicki M., Mizerski W.): 258-275. PIG-PIB, Warszawa [in Polish].