Contents page 1 — According to her, the eternity side 2 — the Remnants of The coal-mining industry page 3 — New gold Mine On a page
If the cage-like Elevator with forty kilometers per hour whizzes vertically into the depth, are reminiscent of one of the Freefall Towers at the Fair. Only that here it is pitch dark. And that no one screams in pleasure. The only extravagance: at the entrance To the shaft 10 – more than a Kilometer in depth – take the miners a pinch of snuff. This has been the Tradition. Smoking is prohibited in the mining strictly, just like underwear made of Polyester: Any spark means the risk of explosion.
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coal is no longer mined in Bottrop, Germany since the autumn. Who enters here, on grants. Or is one of the scientists, concerned about the future of the mining industry and the exit from it. But in the 21st century. December is in the coal mine Prosper-Haniel final conclusion. Solemnly and personally the President of the Confederation will promote the last chunks of coal to the surface. With this symbolic gesture, the coal-mining ends in Germany.
White neon light illuminates the lines, the horizontal passages in the mine. From the ceiling cable hanging beads. Posters with safety instructions, stuck to the walls, to admonish anyone, you just have to remember that the real danger was.
These risks, as well as the hardness of the work, which is part of a tradition of awareness of the miners, the efforts of the post – war period, the myth of the Ruhr area. And is now summoned to the farewell again. But a sober look at the end of the coal-mining industry long overdue. Even before the environmental consequences of the coal were known, the stone was coal-mining in this country, become economically meaningless. Alone in the years 1980 to 2003, more than 100 billion euros were pocketed state subsidies in the Coal mines. Since the sixties the German hard coal is not competitive; too expensive for the world market, displaced from Oil and cheaper to import coal from countries like Colombia, where the energy carrier is cheap in the mine is obtained. The myth of the Kohlenpotts was maintained with subsidies in the billions alive.
Anywhere in the corridors in the direction of the removal point today happens to disused conveyor belts, cable reels and all sorts of machinery; it is very much extract. “This is a hodgepodge of materials, we have days,” says Michael say Schneider. He is the speaker of the mine and supervised the withdrawal.
Until the end of 2019, everything must go. This also includes the rails and the carriages of the diesel cat. With this transport track, the cars hang like a suspended track from the ceiling, jerking it at a leisurely pace through the dimly lit Tunnel to the funding Agency. Of this, only the steel arch will remain expanding, which keeps the underground trails stable, explains say Schneider: “we need to run the water pumps that carry it to the top.”
This article dates back to the TIME no 53/2018. Here you can read the entire issue.
water – this is the Central theme of the Post-mining Era. The future Prosper-Haniels is still under discussion. You will likely shafts and roadways fill with concrete. You could make use of but may also be used for energy storage. Or, at least partly, with cultural fill. But no matter what you do: The water is to employ the posterity for a long time. The on the surface, in the depth of the pit.
the Top of shallow groundwater, rain, and water from streams collect in the Lower, created by the mining. After the removal of the underground hollow closed spaces, thus, have reduced large areas of the Ruhr area, around five to ten meters, sometimes even to thirty. So these are huge areas not drown, you will be embanked, and the water is pumped out. The highest levees in Germany do not protect against the floods of the North sea, but against the river Lippe and are available in Hamm. A “Rhenish lakes” would be, if not around 600 pumps are stopped on a daily basis. A single plant is pumping every second of the contents of thirty bathtubs. With the amount of water that is annually promoted alone in the Emscher-Lippe Region, you could fill the nearby Eder dam four times.
