Diepenlinchen ore mine
The ore mine Diepenlinchen the mouse Bacher district Diepenlinchen was by far the largest and most productive ore mine on the present territory of the city of Stolberg (Rhineland.) In the Aachen region , the zinc , lead and iron ore mined. The name Diepenlinchen is derived from the Low German expression Diepenlingen ( for deep pipeline ) and refers to the sinking of deep shafts in contrast to the earlier, less complex, shallow pings .
Due to the relatively early and intensively operated depth development of the mine, ores that belonged to the primary ore paragenesis were almost exclusively extracted. Diepenlinchen's ore resources are not only stored in carbonic limestone, but also in Devonian Eifel limestone. The ore deposits in the Devonian limestone can be seen as a special feature of the ore mines Breinigerberg and Diepenlinchen in the Aachen district .
In addition to the superstructures of the frog shaft in the industrial area of Mausbach, mainly mining dumps (e.g. Weißenberg) can still be seen today as relics of the former mining operations in the area. Most of the mining facilities were located in the area on both sides of today's Industriestrasse, which is still known today under the field name Diepenlinchen. The main shaft was 160 m south-west of the Froschschacht, with the main production being relocated to the Ravelsberg operating point in the last few years of operation. Another important part of the Diepenlinchen mine is the Henriette operating point.
history
In the field of the same Erzfeldes already existed during the Roman period ore mining, and in time of copper master was in small-scale mining mainly calamine been gained. The large industrial concession Diepenlinchen was created in the first quarter of the 19th century through the amalgamation of heavily fragmented mine holdings. The concession extended over the area Werth , Mausbach , Krewinkel to Untervicht with the Vichtbach as the western field border. In 1809 the Bäumer, Buchacker & Cie. with the concession on lead ore, calamine and iron stone. Began with a civil engineering plant, said at a depth of 80 m from the dewatering employed Pferdegöpel insufficient proved, so that to address the mine water steam engines are used had. It was possible to drive into a deposit , but when the mining began, despite the use of steam power, it was unavoidable that the mine workings would sink to a depth of 18 m . Due to financial difficulties, the civil engineering was given up in 1820 and the concession fields were leased to Mausbach miners.
From 1838 the Diepenlinchen mine was owned by the Metallurgische Gesellschaft zu Stolberg and its successors, KG de Sassenay & Cie. and later expanded by the Stolberger Gesellschaft on an industrial scale and operated until 1919. Initially, the Eschweiler company also had a smaller share in the mine. Until 1932, the area was in Hastenrath municipality.
The first processing plant from the 1840s was replaced in 1898 by a plant with a daily capacity of 100 tons of debris. This was located directly on the main or frog shaft and was increasingly exposed to subsidence or no longer able to cope with the increasing demands. In 1907, a new plant was built a little further in the direction of Ravelsberg and could handle 257 tonnes of debris per day. At that time, this system was not only considered to be one of the most advanced of its kind in Germany.
Between 1890 and 1895 the Diepenlinchen mine employed over 800 miners at times and extracted a good 7,000 t of zinc and lead ore per year, while around 1910 with a workforce of around 500 people, the annual ore extraction was almost 11,000 t. The total production (lead and zinc ores) should have amounted to a total of 500,000 t during the large-scale operation.
The deposits of the Diepenlinchen mine were accessible through a total of 15 shafts. The main shaft with a depth of 300 m had a clear width of 3.00 × 1.25 m and was equipped with bolt shot timber. The conveyor racks were two trams with a total of 1,200 kg up support. The elevator shaft with the same dimensions and the same extension was located 20 m east of the conveyor shaft. The rope ride took place in a basket that could hold 6 men. The two adjacent dewatering shafts, Blume and Widtmann, were 160 m northwest of the main shaft. The ventilation was carried out in such a way that the weather moved in through the main shaft, the driving shaft and the Widtmann shaft. The worn out weather all moved out through the frog shaft. The main operating point built on 16 corridors, five floors and four larger nests. The largest and probably best-known ore body of the Inderevier , the so-called stinging nettle floor, was located under the five floors . According to the size of the ore bodies, the floors were disproportionately involved in the total conveying capacity. In 1908 z. B. the share of the ore resources recovered from the floors was 47%. When the pit was abandoned, the lowest operating point was at a depth of almost 400 m.
The operating points of the Diepenlinchen mine were Diepenlinchen (main operating point), Henriette (west of Diepenlinchen), Neuer Simon (approx. 200 m east of Diepenlinchen), Alter Simon (west of Neuer Simon), Hitzberg (east of Neuer Simon), Ravelsberg (north von Diepenlinchen), Adrienne and Mausbacher Hecke. Some of the ore bodies belonging to the main operating point in Diepenlinchen were given the names Alter Franzgang, Andreasgang, Brennesselgang, Brennesselstockwerk, Heinrichstockwerk, Johanngang, Leongang, Ludwiggang, Nest am Fahrschacht, Neuer Franzgang, Schwarzgrubenest, sulfur gravel storey, white lead ore storey and Weißenberg storey.
Due to the great depth of mining and the storage of the ore in the limestone, enormous amounts of water flowed into the mine workings, which had to be managed with a correspondingly complex dewatering. For this purpose, two steam engines with a total drive power of 900 hp were installed between 1853 and 1854 . Around 1900 the performance of the dewatering was increased to a total of 3,200 hp with two new steam engines. The two main water wells were Blume and Widtmann. The dewatering and in particular the hard coal required to operate the steam engines were a decisive factor in profitability. Towards the end of the operating period, the weight of the required hard coal considerably exceeded the ore output.
Because of the scarcity of hard coal towards the end of the First World War and the inevitably restricted dewatering operations, the lower-lying structures of the mine began to drown. Due to the lack of labor, since many miners had been called up for military service, the ore resources that had already been excavated had to be mined during the war years without being able to develop new stores and prepare them for mining. The mine had become unprofitable; partly because the Stolberger Gesellschaft, especially in the Rhine-Lahn area, now had pits that were much less critical with regard to their mining conditions.
A strike by the miners in March 1919 to enforce wage increases was taken as an opportunity by the company management to cease operations. In 1927 and 1928, a flotation plant with a capacity of 5 t per hour was built to treat the old, still very ore-containing pond and heap sludge. In 1933, more than 4,000 t of usable ore concentrate could be obtained in this way. After 1933, coarse heap material was increasingly shredded and processed. The flotation was operated until 1942, the workforce varied between 50 and 85 people.
Web links
- The Diepenlinchen mine near Stollberg (sic!) From: geomontanus.com (accessed on August 22, 2011)
Coordinates: 50 ° 45 ′ 55.2 ″ N , 6 ° 16 ′ 23.3 ″ E