Coal Mining
[ M A I N ] [ P H O T O ] [ I N F O ]
Coal Mines in Germany and Europe

This page is dedicated to coal mining and the reminiscents of it throughout Germany and Europe. I've collected the information contained herein through the past 7 to 8 years. Maybe its of some worth to you, anyway, its designated to the industry that shaped the region I'm living in. Therefore, the informations are partly of a technological nature, but mostly they're telling you where to find traces of coal mining, active mines and whether or not these sites are worth "visiting" (as far as it is possible for anyone to visit these sites, of course).

Mines

There are still 17 working coal mines in Germany, 12 of them in the Ruhr Area:

  • Friedrich Heinrich/Rheinland
  • Niederberg (UPDATE: closed spring 2002)
  • Walsum
  • Lohberg/Osterfeld
  • Prosper/Haniel
  • Westerholt,
  • Fürst Leopold/Wulfen forming Lippe
  • Hugo/Consolidation, Ewald/Schlägel & Eisen forming Ewald/Hugo (UPDATE: closed spring 2001)
  • Auguste Victoria
  • General Blumenthal/Haard (UPDATE: closing 2002)
  • Haus Aden/Monopol, Heinrich Robert formig Ost
  • Westfalen (UPDATE: closed spring 2001)

3 in the Saar Area:

  • Warndt/Luisenthal
  • Ensdorf
  • Göttelborn/Reden (UPDATE: closed beginning of 2001)

and 1 near Ibbenbüren:

  • Ibbenbüren
Descriptions

For the following mines you'll find descriptions:

Here is a complete (german) list of mines. There is also a (german) description of the winding tower codes used in that list.

Water Drainage

Several shafts in the Ruhr area are held open for water drainage. Coal mining in the Ruhr Area is steadily proceeding to the north. This implies that the unused mines are in the south of the Ruhr Area. To prevent the active mines in the north from getting filled with water due to their subterran connections with the old mines, the southern mines are steadily pumped empty.

The shafts of the southern mines used for this purpose are:

  • Concordia 3 and 6, Oberhausen
  • Carolinenglück 3, Bochum (main site)
  • Zollverein 12, Essen
  • Gneisenau 4, Dortmund
  • Friedrich 3, Essen
  • Hansa 3, Dortmund
Museums

The following mines and shafts will not be teared down in the future due to preservation reasons or because they are planned to be industrial museum sites:

  • Alte Haase 1 (Malakoff tower and shaft hall)
  • Bonifacius 1 (winding tower)
  • Carl (Malakoff tower and shaft hall)
  • Carl Funke 1 (winding tower)
  • Consolidation 9 (winding tower, shaft hall and engine halls)
  • Erin 7 (winding tower)
  • Friedrich Thyssen 6 (winding tower)
  • Fürst Hardenberg 1 (Malakoff tower)
  • Gneisenau 2/4 (Thomson tower and winding tower)
  • Grevel (winding tower)
  • Hannover 1 (Malakoff tower and engine hall)
  • Holland 1/2 (twin Malakoff towers and engine hall)
  • Holland 6 (winding tower)
  • Julius Philipp 1 (Malakoff tower)
  • Königsborn 4 (winding tower)
  • Minister Stein 4 (winding tower)
  • Nordstern 1/2 (winding towers, engine halls)
  • Sterkrade 1 (winding tower and shaft hall)
  • Prosper 2 (Malakoff tower with integrated winding tower)
  • Radbod 1/2/5 (three winding towers with shaft halls and engine halls)
  • Recklinghausen II 4 (winding tower)
  • Rheinpreußen 1 (Malakoff tower and engine halls)
  • Rheinpreußen 4 (winding tower, shaft hall, engine halls and coal wash)
  • Schlägel & Eisen 4 (winding tower)
  • Unser Fritz 1 (Malakoff tower)
  • Westhausen 1 (Malakoff tower)
  • Zollern 2/4 (winding towers and engine hall)
  • Zollverein 1/2 (winding towers)
  • Zollverein 12 (winding tower, engine halls, shaft hall, coal wash)
  • Zweckel 1/2 (winding towers, engine hall)
Links

Company sites:

  • Ruhrkohle AG (company which operates all german coal mines nowadays)
Personal homepages (in no particular order): List of mines:
[DEUTSCH]
Disclaimer: The Author refuses all responsibilities for the contents of external pages which are linked to from this web presence.