Potassium salt mine near Puck moves closer as Poland's defence ministry steps in

On Poland's Baltic coast, in the area of the Bay of Puck, one of the country's most strategically significant raw-material projects is taking shape. Under the "PUCK" project, the copper and silver group KGHM Polska Miedź plans to build Poland's first deep polyhalite mine. The venture is now moving out of the back office: on 3 July 2026 a letter of intent was signed in Gdańsk, and the Ministry of National Defence is stepping in ever more visibly – framing the deposit as part of the wider economic-security architecture of the Baltic Sea basin and of the government's flagship "Kaszubia" Green Industrial District.

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04 july 2026   |   15:50   |   Source: Gazeta Morska   |   Prepared by: Michał Iwański   |   Print

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The deposit beneath Puck

At the heart of the project is polyhalite – a potassium-magnesium sulphate mineral used mainly as a high-grade mineral fertiliser. This is not table salt: the raw material is highly soluble, quickly absorbed by plants and valued in modern agriculture. Its strategic importance has risen markedly since the war in Ukraine and the disruption it caused on global commodity markets, as Russia and Belarus had previously dominated exports of potassium salt.

The story of the Puck deposits did not begin today. Potassium-magnesium salt deposits were documented in what is now Puck County back in the 1960s, but were never exploited. KGHM has been carrying out exploration work here under a concession granted in 2014; near the village of Mieroszyno the company has drilled a total of 21 boreholes, substantially expanding geological knowledge of the deposit. The resulting documentation is intended to allow the mine to be designed. Its approval – in the so-called C1 category of geological recognition – is now being processed by the Ministry of Climate and Environment, with the company having submitted the paperwork back in 2024.

The size of the reserves calls for caution, as published estimates vary. KGHM's president, Remigiusz Paszkiewicz, currently speaks of a "Mieroszyno" deposit on the order of around 300 million tonnes. Earlier documentation pointed to somewhat higher figures (around 341 million tonnes), and assessments covering the wider Puck area have produced numbers running into several hundred million tonnes; the deposit has even been described as one of the largest of its kind in the world. Definitive figures will only be known once the procedure for approving the geological documentation is complete. One thing is certain: the deposit lies deep – more than 750 metres down, and by various accounts as much as 800–900 metres.

The "PUCK" project: what is planned

In the version presented publicly, the project envisages an underground mine with two shafts reaching several hundred metres, workings at a depth of roughly 750–800 metres and a processing plant where the ore would be prepared for further use. The surface part of the investment is expected to cover about 30 hectares. Output, according to President Paszkiewicz, could reach up to 4 million tonnes a year (earlier, more cautious scenarios spoke of around 2.5 million tonnes). In other words, this would be not a modest operation but a large industrial investment.

Scale brings scale of cost. Preliminary estimates cited by company representatives placed the outlay in the range of PLN 7–10 billion, followed by a long payback period. The timetable is equally distant: the key investment feasibility study is due next year, and the start of extraction – once a formal business decision has been taken and an extraction concession obtained – has been estimated at eight to twelve years out.

The employment figures should be read with the same caution, as here the discrepancies are greatest. Some reports mention around 800 jobs, while others – drawing on earlier local-authority analyses – point to as many as some 3,500 direct posts and a further roughly 2,000 in related sectors. Whatever the precise number, for Puck County and the surrounding communes this would be a growth impulse of hard-to-overstate force.

Letter of intent and local voices

The communications breakthrough came with the event of 3 July 2026. At the Marshal's Office of the Pomeranian Voivodeship in Gdańsk, a letter of intent on preparing and delivering the "PUCK" project was signed by the Marshal of the Pomeranian Voivodeship, Mieczysław Struk, and the president of KGHM Polska Miedź, Remigiusz Paszkiewicz. The ceremony was attended by, among others, Eliza Zeidler, Secretary of State at the Ministry of State Assets, Deputy Voivode Emil Rojek and local-government figures from the Puck region, including the head of Puck County, Jarosław Białk, the Mayor of Władysławowo, Roman Kużel, and the head of the Puck rural commune, Marcin Nikrant.

The document does not yet mean that construction is beginning. It is a first formal step opening a stage of cooperation between the investor, public administration, residents and local business: an exchange of information, public consultation, talks on infrastructure and the preparation of documents needed for the next environmental, administrative and concession decisions. The letter is to remain in force for 60 months, with the option of an extension.

Marshal Struk stressed that the region is becoming the arena of enormous change, and that the role of local government is to ensure that residents' voices and opinions are taken into account in the process. In one of his more colourful remarks he observed that, alongside Legnica, Chile and Nevada, Puck too could become one of KGHM's pillars. Local officials at the same time pointed to the hard constraints of the investment – above all the need to expand roads and rail.

The maritime dimension

For the maritime community, the logistics thread is key. The natural transhipment base for the future mine is to be the port of Władysławowo. Mayor Roman Kużel notes that it is the only small port in Poland delivering offshore policy, and declares readiness to develop its transhipment function – with studies already prepared and arrangements agreed with the railways and the maritime administration. The argument is simple: no one will move the mine, and proximity to the port gives the region a durable advantage.

Transporting such large volumes cannot rest on road haulage. KGHM representatives have repeatedly indicated that every mode of transport is under consideration – above all rail, but also a conveyor-belt system, making use of the potential of the nearby port. Interest in the project has also been signalled by the Port of Gdynia. The Vice-President of the Port of Gdynia Authority, Andrzej Chmielecki, while acknowledging the long-term nature of the venture, put the start of extraction at roughly 10–12 years away and expressed a wish to talk with the company about the port's possible involvement. It is worth adding that the Maritime Office in Gdynia is also engaged in work on the region's investment environment under the broader "Kaszubia" concept.

The defence ministry steps in

It is the involvement of the defence ministry that gives the Puck project a new dimension. According to Polish media reporting, the Ministry of National Defence has drawn the company's attention to the investment's significance for the economic security and resilience of the state, and the matter has been the subject of correspondence between the ministry and KGHM. The ministry emphasises that the project should not be judged by economic calculation alone.

The figure who binds the raw-material thread to security policy is Maciej Samsonowicz – adviser to the Minister of National Defence and coordinator of the Working Group for the "Kaszubia" Green Industrial District.

- The polyhalite mine project should be viewed as far more than a mining venture. From a national-security standpoint it means building economic resilience, diversifying supplies of strategic raw materials and creating durable industrial advantages. The 'Kaszubia' Green Industrial District is intended to combine energy, ports, logistics, the defence industry and new technologies into a single, coherent ecosystem. In this model, domestic polyhalite deposits become part of Poland's raw-material security and strengthen the development potential of the entire region. This is an investment of strategic significance, and its effects will be felt for decades to come, says Maciej Samsonowicz, adviser to Poland's Minister of National Defence and coordinator of the Working Group for the "Kaszubia" Green Industrial District.

The project has also won backing from local government. In recent weeks, letters of support signed by, among others, the head of Puck County and the mayors of Władysławowo and Rumia have reached the central authorities. Their authors argue that the mine could become one of the most important growth impulses for Pomerania, generating jobs and attracting further infrastructure investment. The company has already completed a key stage of preparatory work and says it will present its position on the venture's next steps – and, according to unofficial information, delivering the project is today the most likely scenario.

The role of the "Kaszubia" Green Industrial District

The polyhalite mine can no longer be read in isolation from "Kaszubia". The "Kaszubia" Green Industrial District is a strategic state initiative of defence significance, authored precisely by Maciej Samsonowicz and announced in May 2025 in Gdynia by Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz. Its aim is to develop industry, energy and critical infrastructure – with a view to strengthening the country's defence capabilities and building an industrial and logistics backbone for state security. Its reach covers three voivodeships – Pomeranian, West Pomeranian and Kuyavian-Pomeranian – and "Kaszubia" is the first, pilot district of four planned (alongside concepts working-named Warta, Vistula and Galicja).

The foundation of the idea is cheap, locally generated energy. It is in the north of the country that offshore wind farms are being built, photovoltaics and onshore power are expanding, and construction of Poland's first nuclear power plant has begun. The concept's authors assume the region will be able to draw on energy up to around 30 percent cheaper than the rest of Poland – a draw for industry, much as cheap energy once built the potential of Silesia.

For the maritime sector, it matters that "Kaszubia's" specialisations have a distinctly Baltic character. Its pillars are said to include nuclear and offshore energy, ports and maritime logistics, shipyards and dual-use defence industry, and critical-infrastructure security systems. Within the district, plans call for an Offshore Competence Centre (developing technology and local content for offshore wind), an Unmanned Technologies Valley (drones, including for protecting marine installations), an Innovation Valley (data centres, artificial intelligence) and a Hydrogen Valley. The ideological binding agent, meanwhile, is the Baltic Declaration, initiated by the defence ministry – a commitment by the region's states to mutual support and crisis response.

The project is already generating real interest among investors. In the context of "Kaszubia", names cited have included Norway's defence group Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace, the Maritime Technology Centre, Budimex, the Baltic Industrial Group and American firms in small modular reactors (SMR) and space technologies. On such a map, raw-material independence – of which the Puck polyhalite deposit is a tangible element – becomes one of the pillars of a regional security ecosystem, rather than merely a mining project.

Open questions

The optimism of local authorities is tempered by real challenges. The planned mine would sit next to the Coastal Landscape Park and areas covered by the Natura 2000 programme, so detailed environmental impact assessments – including on water – will be required before the investment can start. Residents of the Mieroszyno area have already flagged the state of local roads after the drilling work, as well as the scale of future ore transport. The company itself stresses that conceptual work is under way to identify the least burdensome location, with several sites within the county among those considered.

The most important question also remains open: the formal investment decision. As of July 2026 it had not been announced, and it is to rest on the feasibility study that is still to come. The hard parameters of the deposit are likewise open, dependent on approval of the geological documentation. It is worth recalling that changes to planning law earlier in 2026 (the expiry of the old land-use studies and the entry into force of the new general plans) complicated procedures in the communes of the Puck region – a reminder of how many elements of this puzzle are still in motion.

The signing of the letter of intent sets a direction but does not settle the question of construction. In the coming months, three issues will draw the industry's attention: KGHM's position on the venture's next steps; progress on the feasibility study and on approval of the geological documentation; and concrete infrastructure decisions – road and rail – without which shipping several million tonnes of ore a year will remain a challenge. If the project gets the green light, it could become one of Poland's most important raw-material investments in years, strengthening both the country's resource security and the economic standing of the whole coast. And the interweaving of mining, ports, energy and defence now forming around the Bay of Puck shows, better than anything, that the future of Pomerania is increasingly being written as a single, shared script.

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KGHM kopalnia polihalitu Zielony Okręg Przemysłowy Kaszubia ministerstwo obrony narodowej powiat pucki

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