North Hungarian United Coal Mining and Industrial Company

Seeing the success of the Salgótarján coal mine, several mining associations were established in Northern Hungary in the 1880s, taking advantage of the legal framework supporting industry. The most successful of these was the North Hungarian United Coal Mining and Industrial Company Ltd., which competed with its great rival until 1917, when it was finally taken over by Salgótarján Coal Mining Company Ltd.

The ÉKI, as it is abbreviated in the literature, was founded on 28 August 1881 with a capital of Frt 1 600 000 with the support of the Hungarian National Bank. The association brought together six mining companies from Nógrád, such as the Kisterenyai, the Nemti, the Mátra-selenium-miser wood, the Kusa, the Owl's and the Karancsalja. Count István Esterházy was elected president of the society, and Endre Beretvás vice-president. Imre Birnbaum, Gusztáv Fröhlich, Gábor Heller, Jakab Hoffmann, Sándor Lederer, Dr. Ágost Pulszky, Zsigmond Rosenstein, Henrik Salm and Dr. Mór Stiller were appointed to the Board of Directors.

The Board of Directors' report of 17 May 1882 points out that the company started well after its foundation and sold 99.71 ttpa3 of the 3 112 047 mt of coal extracted, but, as the revenues were used to prepare for the purchase of additional coal deposits, the company made a modest profit of 284 forints.

In the year 1883 the company increased the amount of coal produced and sold by 271 tp3T, which resulted in a profit of 70 339 frt. Then, with further investment, they opened new mines at their existing sites, thus further increasing their production, which led to a steady increase in profits, reaching HUF 120 000 by 1886. In 1889, the company acquired exclusive coal mining rights to deposits in Esztergom County, and as part of this, new mines were built in Tokod, which were spun off into a new company in 1896 under the name of Esztergomvidéki Kőszohlenbánya Rt.

These years brought a balanced operation to the company, which was characterised by the fact that no further investments were necessary, and the company's profit exceeded 230 000 forints in 1894. Although the investment in Tokod increased the share capital to HUF 2 000 000 in 1895/1896, this amount remained unchanged after the introduction of the Crown until the war.

To increase production, both the number of workers and wages were increased intensively in 1907. The Board of Directors' report for that year points out that they had built new factories, housing and prepared housing for their future workers. Accordingly, the result for the year 1908 exceeded 365,000 crowns, and in 1910 426,000 crowns, making it one of their best years before the war.

The outbreak of the war put the company in a difficult situation, as they had to cope with a sudden shortage of workers, but the intervention of the Minister of Trade meant that only a third of the workers were taken as soldiers, so production could continue in the factories. In 1915, there were further difficulties in obtaining some of the materials needed for production, and the inflation in food prices meant that the factory was selling food to its own workers at low prices, which the company bought in bulk at market prices.

By 1917, the company's management realised that it could no longer cope with the difficulties it was facing on its own and sought to raise capital by issuing shares. The situation was finally exploited by Salgótarján Kőszénbánya Rt., which bought out the shareholders of ÉKI during the year and then, on 2 May 1925, finally absorbed the former North Hungarian United Coal Mining and Industrial Company Rt.

If we want to compare the activities of the largest coal mining companies in Northern Hungary, we can see that Salgótarján Coal Mining Co. produced a total of 646 234 520 m³ of coal between 1868 and 1945, ÉKI produced 141 367 860 m³ between 1881 and 1925 and Salgótarján-Rimamurányi Co. produced 66 844 290 m³ between 1869 and 1945. Over the years, Salgó produced an average of 8 392 656 m³, ÉKI 3 212 905 m³ and RIMA 879 530 m³, while the total production of the Salgótarján coal basin, including the other smaller companies, was 925 898 840 m³ between 1848 and 1945, of which 691 tpy3 t was produced by Salgó, 151 tpy3 t by ÉKI and 71 tpy3 t by RIMA.

Source:

Compass: Hungarian Compass 1874-1944 | Arcanum Digital Library

A DESCRIPTION OF THE HUNGARIAN COAL MINING INDUSTRY WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE COMPANIES PARTICIPATING IN THE 1900 INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION IN PARIS.: 10849.pdf (oszk.hu)

Ferenc Szvircsek: Mining book (Salgótarján, 2000): Mining book (Salgótarján, 2000) | Library | Hungaricana

Founded in 1881

Date of cessation: 1925

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Main activity: coal mining

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Author: by Dr. Márton Pelles