Netstal lime factory

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The lime factory Netstal AG is the only lime factory based in Switzerland.

The lime factory Netstal , operated by the Kalkfabrik Netstal AG, is the only lime factory in Switzerland . The limestone quarrying takes place for more than a century at the site Netstal in the canton of Glarus . The company produces around 90,000 tons of white lime products annually, which are used in various industries - for example in construction, medicine , food or environmental protection . The fact that the area around Netstal is well suited for limestone mining has to do with the Glarus thrust and a related anomaly. Usually younger rock layers lie on top of older ones, but this order is disturbed in the Glarus Alps .

history

Origin in Schwanden

The history of Kalkfabrik Netstal AG began in the middle of the 19th century in Schwanden in the canton of Glarus. At that time, master engraver Zopfi built a lime kiln and a brick factory in Tänniberg near Schwanden . His son Melchior Zopfi took over the business in 1865, initially on a lease basis and then bought it in 1885. In 1900 the deposit near Schwanden was exhausted, which is why Melchior Zopfi looked around for another limestone deposit. He found what he was looking for at Elggis in Netstal, where the lime factory is now located.

Growth at the new location

After moving to the Elggis near Netstal, a period of expansion followed. From 1904 onwards, Melchior Zopfi built six hand-loaded shaft furnaces with an output of 20-25 tons per day each, thus continuously expanding the burning capacity. In 1910 he acquired the disused Kubli cotton printing plant, which, thanks to the newly developed hydropower , generated most of the lime factory's electricity needs from 1912 onwards.  

Effects of the wars

The First World War initially led to a rapidly growing demand for the company. In 1917 and 1918, around 50,000 tons of lime each left the plant, of which significant quantities went to the central powers. Sales later fell sharply, and in 1921 a low point was reached with only 9,000 tons of lime. In 1924 the Zopfi lime works was renamed the Netstal AG lime factory with share capital of CHF 400,000. In order to compensate for the failure caused by the falling demand, waste ballast was processed for building and road purposes from 1925, followed by the production of ground lime and limestone powder. The global economic crisis from the end of the 1920s and the Second World War presented the Netstal lime factory with further challenges due to sales difficulties and a lack of raw materials.

Growing performance capacity

In the second half of the 20th century , various investments followed in order to renew the plants and secure the future of the lime factory. In 1959 a new, mechanized and coke-powered shaft furnace was put into operation together with a sorting and loading system, whereupon the construction of a second shaft furnace followed and the production volume increased significantly. Other construction projects involved a new office building, a silo building with hydrate bagging , two oil-heated Fiedler ovens and a sewage treatment plant for the environmentally friendly operation of the gravel washing plant. After challenging years due to the sharp rise in coke prices, the lime factory benefited from economic prosperity in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Additional mining areas developed

In 1994 the municipal assembly of Netstal approved the extension of the limestone quarry in the direction of Sattel, the first blasting in the new quarry area took place in 1997. In 2000 a central bagging and palletizing facility was built, followed in 2009 with a new crushing plant old plants. The total investment at that time amounted to 8.5 million francs, between 2009 and 2015 the management invested another 10 million francs in modern production equipment and product developments.

Protection for another 50 years

After more than 100 years of business activity, it was time for the fifth generation of the family business to plan the long-term future. Since the existing mining zone on the mountain will be exhausted in a few years, the Kalkfabrik Netstal AG started an expansion project for foundations and Elggis Süd in 2013 - the relevant approval process is currently still ongoing (as of 2019). Based on an approved project from 2006, the preparatory work for dismantling in the Ober Elggis area has already started.

literature

  • Kalkfabrik Netstal AG: 100 years of KFN - lime timelessly valuable , Netstal 2000
  • Peter Straub (eds.), Rudolf Trümpi, Toni Labhart: Glarner Alpen , 10th edition, SAC-Verlag, Bern 2004, pp. 36-37.
  • Federal Office of Topography swisstopo:   Report on the supply of Switzerland with non-energetic mineral raw materials (report mineral raw materials) , Bern 2017, p. 10.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Report on mineral raw materials. Retrieved April 26, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Kalkfabrik Netstal - manufacturer of lime products in Switzerland. Retrieved April 26, 2019 .
  3. ^ Rudolf Trümpi, Toni Labhart: Glarner Alps . Ed .: Peter Straub. 2004, p. 36-37 .
  4. ^ History of the Netstal lime factory. Accessed April 26, 2019 (German).
  5. ↑ Kalkfabrik Netstal AG: 100 years of KFN - lime timelessly valuable . Ed .: Kalkfabrik Netstal AG. 2000, p. 2 .
  6. ↑ Kalkfabrik Netstal AG: 100 years of KFN - lime timelessly valuable . Ed .: Kalkfabrik Netstal AG. 2000, p. 4 .
  7. ↑ Kalkfabrik Netstal AG: 100 years of KFN - lime timelessly valuable . Ed .: Kalkfabrik Netstal AG. 2000, p. 6 .
  8. ↑ Kalkfabrik Netstal AG: 100 years of KFN - lime timelessly valuable . Ed .: Kalkfabrik Netstal AG. 2000, p. 8 .
  9. ↑ Kalkfabrik Netstal AG: 100 years of KFN - lime timelessly valuable . Ed .: Kalkfabrik Netstal AG. 2000, p. 10 .
  10. ↑ Kalkfabrik Netstal AG: 100 years of KFN - lime timelessly valuable . Ed .: Kalkfabrik Netstal AG. 2000, p. 12 .
  11. ↑ Kalkfabrik Netstal AG: 100 years of KFN - lime timelessly valuable . Ed .: Kalkfabrik Netstal AG. 2000, p. 14 .
  12. ↑ Lime will still be stored in Netstal for decades. Retrieved April 26, 2019 .