Mine dump Ensdorf
The Ensdorf mine dump , also known as the Duhamel , Monte Duhamel or Monte Schlacko dump , is one of the largest mine dumps in Saarland with an area of almost 50 hectares . It rises around 150 meters above the immediately surrounding area. It has been open to the public since May 2004 and serves as a starting point for paragliders . Three ascents as well as a steeper and a flatter path lead to the summit plateau.
history
The coal industry in the area of Saar mine in Ensdorf can be traced to the first half of the 18th Century to trace. While coal mining began in Schwalbach and Griesborn during this time and the first underground shaft was sunk in 1826 , the 2350 m long Ensdorf tunnel connected the Ensdorf community with mining for the first time in 1842 . The coal extracted was brought by horse across the tunnel to the Saar, where the raw material was shipped. In 1925 the Saarschacht mine - today's Duhamel plant - became an independent mine. 32 years later, the Duhamel and Griesborn mines were merged into one facility, the Ensdorf mine, in 1957. To the east of the Duhamel plant, the washing and flotation mountains , the secondary rocks of coal production, were deposited. The first "mountains" was in 1913 in the drilling of a well. However, tailings have only been piled up on a larger scale since 1961, when the wet processing facility in Ensdorf went into operation and the production rates had increased considerably. Today the area of the heap is around 47 hectares. The wash mountains deposited on the heaps consist of clay slate , sand slate , silt and sandstone and today only contain small amounts of coal.
Since the 1960s, the dump has been loaded with washing mountains via an inclined elevator and tipping wagon . At first a typical pointed cone heap was created, from which a "truncated cone-like" structure developed until the 1980s. Starting in 1988, the adjacent rock was brought to the plateau with a special conveyor system, a pipe conveyor (also called a pipe conveyor ) and the bulk material was tipped over another conventional conveyor system and a spreader .
The technical conception of the pile dump was based on a simple throw-over principle. The adjacent rock was transported to the tip of the heap via the pipe conveyor and the subsequent moving belt system. The bulk material presented itself over a fall height of up to 100 m at a steep angle of slope of 30 to 36 °. The poured material was then not processed further, apart from the planned road construction. The dump moved steadily eastwards over the sinking ponds . The building thus developed into an elongated ridge. The already filled areas of the dump have been recultivated for around three decades. To date, around 30 hectares of the dump area have been greened.
Mining in Saarland ended on June 30, 2012 . The final height of the dump is 150 meters above the surrounding area and the summit is 330 meters above sea level. The high plateau was smoothed out at the end of 2011. The conveyor belt on the top of the heap, the pipe conveyor and its stacker were demolished at the end of 2012.
use
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On the southern slope of the stockpile there is a small vineyard area with 99 vines. The "vineyard" is located in the center of the area released for tourist development. This is an exceptional land use on mining heaps. The project was financed by the Saarlouis district and the Saarland Ministry of Economics .
In September 2009, a small memorial was set up for the miners who died on the flat stretch. Until then, the memorial stone was in Luisenthal , where on February 7, 1962, a firedamp explosion occurred in the Luisenthal mine with 299 dead.
The summit of the stockpile has two Christmas trees, which are brightly visible from December 1st to January 10th each year and should continue to exist. In addition, for technical reasons, the transmission mast remains on the high plateau. The space of the former conveyor system is to be used either as a staircase or as a track for a cable car or similar.
Saar polygon
At the end of 2012, the top of the heap was smoothed. The Saar polygon was built on the high plateau . The approximately 30-meter-high and walk- in steel sculpture was opened in September 2016 and also serves as a lookout point. With an additional branching off of the flat section, physically handicapped visitors can reach the high plateau better due to the lower inclines. In 2017 it was awarded the BDA Prize for Architecture and Urban Development in Saarland .
Art on the dump
On September 11, 2005, the Federal Association of Visual Artists (BBK) started a temporary art exhibition on the heap. A total of around 25 artists were involved. All but three projects were dismantled after a short time. The main attraction was the 15-meter-high ladder to heaven, a work by Julia Baur, Brigitte Morsch, Ursel Kessler and Maria Montnacher-Becker, on the high plateau, which was sawed off by strangers on the night of August 25, 2011. It was considered the landmark of the Ensdorf mine dump and was visible from afar. There are currently two works of art (“Sonnenbogen” by Ferdinand Herrmann and “I was here, and you were always there” by Claudia E. Schmitt).
Web links
- www.BergbauErbeSaar.de website mining heritage Saar and more information on Saar polygon .
- Saarbrücker Zeitung: "Unknown people sabort the sky ladder of the Ensdorf heap" Newspaper report on the destroyed sky ladder .
- Art on the Halde "Information on Art on the Halde" project 2005.
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Saar polygon is open. In: sr.de. September 17, 2016, accessed May 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Saarpolygon wins prize for architecture and urban development . In: coal. The RAG Aktiengesellschaft employee magazine, 2017, issue 9, p. 19.
Coordinates: 49 ° 19 ′ 4.8 ″ N , 6 ° 47 ′ 6 ″ E