Georg-Joseph pit
| Georg-Joseph | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| General information about the mine | |||
 |
|||
| other names | Georg-Josef | ||
| Information about the mining company | |||
| Operating company | Buderus | ||
| Employees | 200 (1950) | ||
| Start of operation | before 1807 | ||
| End of operation | 1966 | ||
| Funded raw materials | |||
| Degradation of | River iron stone (hematite) | ||
| River iron stone (hematite) | |||
| Greatest depth | 304 m | ||
| Geographical location | |||
| Coordinates | 50 ° 27 '16 " N , 8 ° 13' 57.4" E | ||
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| Location | Whirlwind | ||
| local community | Runkel | ||
| District ( NUTS3 ) | Limburg-Weilburg | ||
| country | State of Hesse | ||
| Country | Germany | ||
| District | Lahn | ||
The Georg-Joseph mine (also Georg-Josef) was a mine for the extraction of iron ore near Wirbelau ( Runkel ) in the Lahn-Dill area . Forerunner mines already existed in the 18th century, the Georg-Joseph mine was founded in 1807 and closed in 1966.
history
Founded in 1807
The mine fields have been owned by Buderus ' sche Eisenwerke ( Wetzlar ) since it was founded in 1807 . Initially, two separate pit fields were awarded (Georg and Joseph). From 1812 the mining rights for the Georg mine were granted to Buderus by Duke Wilhelm von Nassau , and for the Joseph mine from 1828. On July 28, 1829, the two mine fields were merged and the mine was continued as Georg-Joseph by the Georg union. During the consolidation , the Pforzheim, Hermannstein, Teutonenberg, Eisenkaute, Neue Wiese and Hermine mine fields were also added to the mine. All pit fields put together result in an area of 3.6 square kilometers.
The previous mining is little documented. It is known that as early as 1812 there was a tunnel ( open-cast mine ) between the old mine operated in the open-cast mine and the ore loading point, which was used to transport the ores. After the ore reserves in the open-cast mine were exhausted, tunnels near the surface were driven into the mountain to the south and east of the open-cast mine, which were replaced in the following years by several deeper and longer tunnels. The ore was transported with horse-drawn vehicles over unpaved forest paths.
Civil engineering from 1865
The first large shaft ( old shaft ) was sunk in 1865 - as a machine shaft with a steam engine. A first degradation sole has at the level of Georg tunnel in 50 m depth established, another at the same level (84 m depth) of the later Wittekind cleat . From 1867 onwards, all mining fields went back to Buderus. In 1899, the Wittekind tunnel was excavated as the deepest tunnel construction, which was used for extraction and water removal. The tunnel was named in honor of the Buderus supervisory board chairman Anton Gustav Wittekind. From 1882 the ore was transported by cable car from the shaft to the Gräveneck station . Around 1904 the 904 m long Wittekind tunnel reached the old shaft. In the same year, a bridge was built from the mouth of the tunnel over the Lahn to Gräveneck in order to reach the Lahntalbahn railway line there .
In 1906, important technical innovations were introduced at the mine, for example, the miners' lighting was changed from oil lamps to carbide lamps and compressed air drills were used for the first time. Finally, in 1912, extraction with steam engines was replaced by electric extraction. It was one of the first electrified mining operations in the entire Lahn region. In the same year a new civil engineering shaft was started, the Groebler shaft , named after the general director Bergrat Alfred Groebler.
The Groebler shaft was completed in 1920, became the main production shaft and remained so until the pit was closed in 1966. During this time, the shaft reached a depth of over 300 m, of which 84 m above the Wittekind tunnel, which is regarded as a reference point, and 220 m below it.
After the First World War , the overall economic situation was very bad and the rising wages and costs made operations considerably more difficult. Despite this tense financial situation, the construction of a central processing plant at Gräveneck station began in 1921 and went into operation the following year.
The unfavorable economic situation continued in 1923 and led to the fact that in December 1923 the cost of explosives almost reached the level of the total wage costs, which made the company unprofitable. The operation continued unprofitable until the summer of 1926, and it was not until June 1, 1926 that state financial aid ensured an improvement in the situation of all mines on the Lahn. The state-sponsored heyday, however, only lasted for a short time - from 1931 onwards, the massively reduced demand for pig iron and high inflation led to a forced cutback in production. In 1932, only less than 10% of the normal output was achieved, and preparations were made for closure. At the end of 1932 this was carried out and operations ceased. The mine workings were kept free of water, however, so that operations could be resumed at any time.
Intensified dismantling from 1934
As part of the National Socialist efforts to achieve self-sufficiency , mining was intensified or resumed at all mines in the German Reich from 1934, including the Georg-Joseph mine. The mine technology was modernized and from 1939 the processing plant in Gräveneck was rebuilt in order to be able to achieve the expected high conveying capacity profitably.
In the years 1942 to 1945 the mining operations were maintained by Buderus forced laborers. Due to the end of the Second World War , the mine was forcibly closed in the spring of 1945. Funding could only continue from 1948. The ores were bought by the blast furnaces in Oberscheld and Wetzlar . In 1950 the workforce had grown again to almost 200 people and production reached 64,000 tons of ore per year. In August 1957 there was a massive fire in the pit, and the wooden track extension, which was burning along its entire length, could only be extinguished after a week with the help of all mine services in the surrounding area.
The 1950s and 1960s saw numerous changes for the mine, and more modern mining methods were introduced. The Firstenstoßbau was with scrapers supported and EIMCO overhead loaders. On the 220 m level, extensive exploratory stretches were used to search for new ore deposits, and from there a saiger die was sunk to a new 270 m level to be created. By modernizing the technology, the miners' production output could be more than doubled, from 1 tonne of ore per man and shift in 1950 to 2.3 tons in 1962. By 1966 the conveying output was even tripled to 3 tons per man and shift.
A special feature was the route support, which was maintained until 1966, exclusively by horses, only the transport through the Wittekind tunnel was done with diesel locomotives. The horses did heavy work and pulled 10 to 12 fully loaded carts with a total weight of 15-16 tons.
Decommissioned in 1966
The relatively high phosphorus content of the ore meant that it was only used for the production of foundry pig iron. This market declined, and the cheaper competition from foreign ores increased. As a result of very extensive studies, especially by North American companies in the 1950s on iron ore deposits worldwide, the forecast of the ore reserves still available multiplied considerably in a short time. There was also a drop in the price of ocean freight. As a result, the price of iron ore fell to a low that was not profitable for German mining companies. After years of undersupply caused by the war, there was suddenly an oversupply, which led to prices that were far too low in order to be able to remain competitive for German ores. While in 1953 the price per ton of iron ore was 97 DM, it rose to 140 DM per ton by 1957, after which it fell to 73 DM per ton. As early as 1961, a ton of ore imported from Sweden cost only DM 51 including transport to the smelters, while ore from the Lahn area was over DM 100 / ton due to the laborious extraction process.
The overwhelming competition for cheaper ores from abroad quickly led to German ores no longer being in demand. This led to the final closure of the Georg-Joseph mine on May 1, 1966, the last 92 miners workforce had to be dismissed. Immediately after the shutdown, all daytime facilities were demolished, in particular the steel headframe above the Groebler shaft, the shaft hall and the hoisting machine house, and in 1967 the bridge over the Lahn. As the last structural witnesses of the pit, the mouth of the Wittekind tunnel and the externally unchanged building for processing in Gräveneck have been preserved.
Pit building
Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap
In addition to the opencast mining area directly northwest of the Groebler shaft, the pit consisted of numerous tunnels and shafts, as well as 9 floors - the most important are:
- Old shaft, approx. Location
- Groebler shaft (main shaft) location
- Shaft location
- Shaft location
- Shaft location
- Georgstollen location
- Stollen location
- Wittekindstollen (conveyor tunnel) location
- Open pit mine, approx. Location
processing
The processing tower at Gräveneck station, which is still preserved today, comprised a crusher system and pumping tables on several floors . The mechanical scrubbing went into operation in October 1922. This allowed crushed and carefully pre-sorted ore to be loaded onto the train. Between 1939 and 1941, the processing facility was fundamentally rebuilt and modernized, the external appearance of the building was also significantly changed, the building made of solid reinforced concrete was clad with bricks and was visually divided into floors and rows of windows. The richly structured new facade was designed by the architect Jan Hubert Pinand, who is known for his sacred buildings . Today it is a protected Hessian cultural monument.
The ore river iron stone ( hematite ) consisted of 32% iron , 21% calcium oxide and 11% silicon dioxide , the phosphorus content was 0.16-0.2%.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Rainer Slotta : Technical monuments in the Federal Republic of Germany. Iron ore mining. Ed .: German Mining Museum. tape 5 / I . Bochum 1986, p. 895 .
- ↑ a b c Rolf Georg, Rainer Haus, Karsten Porezag (ed.): Eisenerzbergbau in Hessen . Wetzlar 1996, p. 241 .
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Rainer Slotta: Technical monuments in the Federal Republic of Germany. Iron ore mining. Ed .: German Mining Museum. tape 5 / I . Bochum 1986, p. 896 .
- ↑ Gräveneck, community camp for forced laborers, Buderus. LAGIS Hessen # 2675 . In: Topography of National Socialism in Hesse . ( lagis-hessen.de ).
- ↑ Gräveneck, community camp for forced laborers, Buderus. LAGIS Hessen # 3049 . In: Topography of National Socialism in Hesse . ( lagis-hessen.de ).
- ^ Rolf Georg, Rainer Haus, Karsten Porezag (ed.): Eisenerzbergbau in Hessen . Wetzlar 1996, p. 244 .
- ↑ Ore Mines - Last Shift . In: Der Spiegel . No. 50 , 1961, pp. 41 .
- ^ Rainer Slotta: Technical monuments in the Federal Republic of Germany. Iron ore mining. Ed .: German Mining Museum. tape 5 / I . Bochum 1986, p. 897 .
- ^ State Office for the Preservation of Monuments Hesse (ed.): Cultural monuments in Hesse . ( denkmalpflege-hessen.de ).