ABSTRACT
The Moravian-Silesian region (MSR) is known as the ‘industrial heart of the Czech Republic’, for its large concentration of mining, steel and other (heavy) manufacturing industries. In particular, in the capital Ostrava and the city of Karviná, there are several large steel plants and mines. Industrial development started with the discovery of coal in Mähhrisch-Ostrau (the former name of Ostrava) in 1763; and the first ironworks, Rudolfhütte (later Witkowitzer Eisenwerke), was founded in 1828. In the beginning of the 1980s, the total hard coal production was 25 million tons, which was four-fifths of the total production in Czechoslovakia. At that time, Czechoslovakia was the largest producer of hard coal per inhabitant in the world (Eckart et al., 2003).
