4 December is Miners’ Day in our country. On this day, we traditionally extend our wishes to all those people who, risking their own lives, wrest the Earth’s riches from it. Although, by a strange twist of fate, our town found itself outside the copper basin, it remains connected with mining through the people who work at the nearby copper mine. Today, when the nearest “Konrad” Mining Works has been placed into liquidation and copper ore extraction has ceased, few people remember the town-building role of this enterprise.The “Konrad” Mining Works were established as a state enterprise on 21 December 1949. In 1959, they were subordinated to the newly established Non-Ferrous Metals Mining and Metallurgy Union in Katowice. In 1968, the “Konrad” Mining Works were incorporated into the Copper Mining and Metallurgical Combine in Lubin.Throughout the entire existence of the enterprise, its core activity consisted of extracting copper ore and processing and concentrating it using the flotation method. From the beginning of their existence, the “Konrad” Mining Works had a significant impact on Bolesławiec and the entire Bolesławiec County by providing a substantial number of jobs—approximately 3,000.The enterprise’s contribution to the development of residential construction was, however, most important for the town. As early as the initial period of its existence, a complex of residential buildings in the vicinity of Żwirki i Wigury and Karola Miarki Streets was renovated. In 1953–1954, 352 rooms were completed. In the following period, from 1958 to 1963, the enterprise’s funds were used to build an entire residential district in the area of Spokojna, Zygmunta Augusta and Marcinkowskiego Streets and Aleja Wojska Polskiego, as well as an estate of detached and semi-detached houses on Konradowska Street. A total of 1,497 rooms were completed. For comparison, the other enterprises built 394 rooms during the same period. When the “Bolesławianka” Housing Cooperative was established in 1965, employees of the “Konrad” Mining Works formed the main group of founding members.The growing number of employees at the “Konrad” Mining Works and at enterprises connected with the mine was accompanied by an increase in Bolesławiec’s population. More and more people from the county also worked at the mine. This trend transformed the county into an industrial center. The relatively high wages of the enterprise’s employees gave the residents of the town and surrounding areas new purchasing power, increasing demand for material goods. This resulted in the development of retail and catering—from 89 retail outlets to 165, and from 7 to 17 catering establishments. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the “Konrad” Mining Works influenced the development of construction, transport and trade in Bolesławiec. They also supported sports investments, such as the construction of the municipal stadium and the artificial ice rink, which was built using equipment employed for sinking shafts by the freezing method.In 1975, by decision of the state authorities and in connection with the country’s new administrative division, the town and the mine found themselves in two different voivodeships.Despite this, the “Konrad” Mining Works continued to maintain in Bolesławiec a cultural center, a workers’ hotel and a school.The development of the new Copper Basin and the country’s difficult economic situation led to the abandonment of plans to build the “Bolesławiec” mine. In 1987, the Minister of Metallurgy and Machine Industry issued a decision to liquidate the “Konrad” Mining Works as of 1 July 1987; the liquidation was scheduled to be completed by 31 December 1993.The “Konrad” Mining Works, which had been the main town-forming factor, proved to be a workplace for one generation of “Konrad miners,” as they were popularly called in the town. Today, the young generation so often fails to show respect for the people who built the mine and who, for many years and often risking their lives in difficult geological conditions, extracted copper ore. More and more often, dressed in their beautiful mining uniforms, they accompany deceased colleagues to the cemetery. In conversations among friends, they often regret that the mine’s golden years of development have passed. Might the state authorities one day decide to build new shafts and resume the extraction of copper ore, which is, after all, still present in the vicinity of our town?Perhaps in a few years another generation of miners will sing cheerful songs at the traditional Miners’ Beer Tavern on the eve of the miners’ holiday. I believe I will not be alone in expressing this hope and extending my best wishes to all those who undertake the hard work of mining and to their families.