Paper presents the changes in recoverable, developed, and mineable hard coal reserves in Poland in the years 1993—2003. Reserves-to-Production (R/P) ratios, presented in the document “The plan for accessing coal reserves…” were calculated on the basis of coal production of particular coal mine and its mineable reserves (of so-called 1st degree—i.e. reserves theoretically possible to mine if economic factor is not taken into account, and of 2nd degree—i.e. easily accessible reserves). These ratios were compared in the paper with two forecast of hard coal demand. Following from the comparison, the deficit of coal can emerge in Poland as early as since the mid twentieth of this century, when accessible reserves in operational mines will start depleting