Laura pit (Oberbachem)

Pit Laura
General information about the mine
Mining technology	Underground mining
Funding / year	1907: 3240 tons
Information about the mining company
Operating company	most recently Bergbau-AG Friedrichssegen
Employees	1908: 258
Start of operation	1804 with interruptions
End of operation	1909
Successor use	partly riding arena
Funded raw materials
Degradation of	Lead, copper and zinc ores
Geographical location
Coordinates	50 ° 37 '40.3 "  N , 7 ° 9' 13.6"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 37 '40.3 "  N , 7 ° 9' 13.6"  E
Location pit Laura
Location	Oberbachem
local community	Wachtberg
country	State of North Rhine-Westphalia
Country	Germany
District	Brühl-Unkel, Cöln-Ost

The Laura mine was a zinc, lead and copper ore mine in the Oberbachem district in what is now the municipality of Wachtberg in southern North Rhine-Westphalia . Operators were u. a. Abraham Bleibtreu as well as Alfred and Carl Mannesmann . The neighboring older Philippine mine and the Laura mine were managed together from 1896. The operation of both mines was characterized by frequent changes of ownership and phases of closure.

The pits were located in the Brühl-Unkel mining area, and from 1908 in the Cöln-Ost area.

Ore mining and operation

Foundation phase

The first known reports about mining in Kürrighoven, which belongs to the village of Oberbachem, date from the first decade of the 19th century. Abraham Bleibtreu from Erpel initially operated the mining without a license. It is assumed that the ore layers near the surface had already been mined before that . On October 23, 1815 Abraham Bleibtreu received the concession for lead and copper ores together with the brothers Engelbert and Christian Rhodius from Linz . The Rhodius brothers were co-founders of the white lead factory in Burgbrohl . The area covered 107.34 hectares. The excavation took place via tunnels . In 1823 the concession was expanded to include silver and was first designated the Philippine Mine . In 1843 operations were stopped.

Second operating phase

On October 12, 1859, Sebastian Hüllen, Peter Thiebes ( Mehlem ) and Wilhelm Wiesmann from Bonn secured the concession for lead, copper and zinc ores south of the first mining area. The Laura mine field was approx. 312 hectares in size and extended into the districts of Berkum and Pissenheim, today Werthhoven . The extensive mining operations did not begin until 1869, after an English company entered the company and opened up the ore deposits via shafts . The dismantling was carried out using three underground levels to a depth of 80 m. The gear mass of zinc blende had a strength cm by 50 cm of lead and copper 10 to 15 The bed system was around 1,500 m long in 1877. The Philippine mine was also operated by the English company. In 1878 the operation of both mines was stopped.

High phase

In 1896 the engineer Michael Cahen from Brussels bought both mines and started operations. The seller was the miner Joseph Mühlenbein (1854–1912) from Rheinbreitbach . In 1901 a union was founded and until 1902 the ownership of the Kuxe changed via Moritz Bloch from Brussels to the interim acquirers engineer Helmut Koegel from Remscheid and his brother, the factory director Fritz Koegel from Düsseldorf. The Koegel brothers appointed their cousin Carl Mannesmann as the successor to the merchant Gustav Wippermann from Kalk (machine manufacturer, iron foundry owner) as representatives. In total, the brothers Alfred , Carl and Reinhard Mannesmann bought over 40 concessions at the time, mostly through their cousin Helmut Koegel as interim buyers.

In 1900 a new machine shaft was sunk 150 m . The dismantling took place on several levels. The deepest level of 170 m was accessed via a blind shaft . The 140 m ore vein was 30 to 40 cm thick. The Philippine mine was developed via a cross passage.

Ore processing facilities were built immediately adjacent to the mine . They had a capacity of around 70 tons of debris per day.

In the record year 1907 3,240 t of ore were mined. In 1908, 258 people worked in the mine and in ore processing. The total value of the Laura mine in 1908 was estimated at 650,000 marks.

End stage of promotion

The Mannesmann brothers sold the mine in 1908 as the operation caused high losses. They focused on cheaper ore mining in Morocco . The buyer was Bergbau-Aktien-Gesellschaft Friedrichssegen , which promised synergies with its mine. On May 1, 1909, operations were finally closed. In 1936, the Stolberger Zink AG acquired the area.

Reuse

The riding facility Grube Laura of the riding and driving club Oberbachem eV is located on the area of ​​the former ore processing

The circular hiking trail Dächelsberg of the fire route leads past the old mine area.

More mine fields

In the immediate vicinity, further investigations were carried out and pit fields were awarded. However, no significant mining was carried out there.

• Charles Mine - Awarded on copper, lead, zinc - Location: Züllighoven
• Flora mine - copper, lead, zinc - Niederbachem
• Irberg mine - Kupfer - Oedingen , Züllighoven
• Iris pit - Kupfer - Niederbachem, Oberbachem, Züllighoven
• Jacob mine - zinc - Oberbachem, Gimmersdorf
• Kaiser mine - lead - Gimmersdorf, Oberbachem
• Kronprinz mine - lead - Ließem , Oberbachem
• Nesselburg - Blei - Mehlem mine , Niederbachem
• Wilhelm I mine - Eisen - Gimmersdorf, Ließem, Muffendorf , Pech
• Wilhelm the Great Mine - Kupfer - Gimmersdorf, Oberbachem

Relationship with other mines and factories

Files on the Laura mine and other mines were destroyed in a fire in World War II, so that the ore mining and operation cannot be completely reconstructed. However, there are indications that the operation took place in similar structures as the operation of the mines St. Joseph near Rheinbreitbach and St. Marienberg near Bruchhausen. The ownership structure has shown clear parallels since the beginning of the 19th century, so that the English operating phase of the Laura mine was possibly under the direction of the London City Councilor Simon Charles Hadley.

literature

• Claudia Maria Arndt: From the tunnel to the stable . The eventful history of the "Laura" mine in Wachtberg-Oberbachem between mining and equestrian sport. In: History and Antiquity Association for Siegburg and the Rhein-Sieg-Kreis e. V. (Ed.): From Wasserkunst and Pingen . tape 25 . Rheinlandia, Siegburg 2005, ISBN 3-935005-95-4 , p. 181-194 .
• Bernd Habel: The former mining industry in the Niederbachem area . In: Heimat- und Verschönerungsverein Niederbachem e. V. (Ed.): Local history documentation Niederbachem . No. 20 . Wachtberg 2006.
• Axel Kolfenbach: Good luck! Laura . In: Association for Customs and Local Beautification Oberbachem e. V. (Ed.): June 28, 856 Coruuingoua / Kürrighoven June 28, 2006 . Wachtberg 2006, p. 53-64 ( Festschrift ).
• Franz Müller: Life around the Wachtberg . A journey through time through 30,000 years of history in a Rhenish landscape. Wachtberg 1993, ISBN 3-925551-60-3 , pp. 363-370 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Franz Müller: Life around the Wachtberg . A journey through time through 30,000 years of history in a Rhenish landscape. Wachtberg 1993, ISBN 3-925551-60-3 , pp. 364,365 .
2. ↑ Claudia Maria Arndt: From the tunnel to the stable . The eventful history of the "Laura" mine in Wachtberg-Oberbachem between mining and equestrian sport. In: History and Antiquity Association for Siegburg and the Rhein-Sieg-Kreis e. V. (Ed.): From Wasserkunst and Pingen . tape 25 . Rheinlandia, Siegburg 2005, ISBN 3-935005-95-4 , p. 183 .
3. ^ Stephanie Merkenich: Gebrüder Rhodius 1827-2002 . 175 years of entrepreneurship in the Rhineland. Ed .: Gebrüder Rhodus GmbH + Co KG. Burgbrohl September 2002, p. 19 ( online [PDF; 2.2 MB ]). online ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ ^{a b c d} Axel Kolfenbach: Glück auf! Laura . In: Association for Customs and Local Beautification Oberbachem e. V. (Ed.): June 28, 856 Coruuingoua / Kürrighoven June 28, 2006 . Wachtberg 2006, p. 55-64 ( Festschrift ).
5. ↑ OlsbergWiki: Michael Cahen
6. ^ ^{A b} Association of German Engineers (ed.): Directory of members 1981 . Berlin 1881.
7. ↑ ^{a b c} Bernd Habel: The former mining in the area of ​​Niederbachem . In: Heimat- und Verschönerungsverein Niederbachem e. V. (Ed.): Local history documentation Niederbachem . No. 20 . Wachtberg 2006, p. 11-25 .
8. ^ Rhineland Regional Association : Carl Mannesmann (1861–1950), inventor and entrepreneur
9. ↑ Riding and Driving Association Oberbachem e. V.
10. ↑ Rhineland Nature Park : Dächelsbergrunde
11. ^ Jürgen Fuchs: The copper ore mining near Rheinbreitbach and Bruchhausen . In: History and Antiquity Association for Siegburg and the Rhein-Sieg-Kreis e. V. (Ed.): From Wasserkunst and Pingen . tape 25 . Rheinlandia, Siegburg 2005, ISBN 3-935005-95-4 , p. 53-80 .