St. Egidien nickel works

VEB Nickelhütte St. Egidien
legal form	publicly-owned business
founding	1952 (as part of the VEB Nickelhütte Aue / Sa )
resolution	1990
Reason for dissolution	Transfer to Industriegesellschaft St. Egidien mbH
Seat	St. Egidien , Germany
Branch	metallurgy

The St. Egidien nickel smelter was a production facility for the pure non-ferrous metal nickel in St. Egidien in the Saxon district of Zwickau . The " VEB Nickelhütte St Egidien" was founded in 1952 to process nickel ore in the mining area around Callenberg . At times he was in contact with the Aue nickel smelter, which still exists today . In 1990 the production of the St. Egidien nickel smelter was stopped, the smelter was spun off from the combine and transferred to the "Industriegesellschaft St. Egidien mbH".

location

The industrial company was located directly north of the St. Egidien train station in St. Egidien in the Saxon district of Zwickau . In its vicinity was also the St. Egidien works station , from which the narrow-gauge industrial railway of the St. Egidien nickel smelter ran to several open-cast nickel mines around Callenberg between 1960 and 1991 .

history

Exploration of the deposit and construction of the St. Egidien nickel smelter

St. Egidien nickel works

The presence of weathered, nickel-containing serpentinites in the southwest of the Saxon Granulite Mountains around Callenberg was known as early as the 19th century . This aroused the interest of the Princely House of Schönburg - Waldenburg , which commissioned Swedish geologists to assess the occurrence. However, due to the possibilities at the time, extraction was discarded.

After the Second World War , the geological exploration for Pechblende took place through the Wismut , during which, in 1947, the geologist Rudolf Jubelt found silicate nickel ores in the neighboring village of Kuhschnappel . Since the GDR initially primarily promoted heavy industry , there was a great need for appropriate additives for steel production. In October 1949, exploration work began in the Reichenbach / Obercallenberg area and in the Kiefernberg area near Grumbach on behalf of the Berlin State Geological Institute. This led to the discovery of the economically interesting deposit near Obercallenberg, from which the later opencast mine Callenberg South I was to emerge.

In 1952, under the leadership of VVB Buntmetall, exploration work began on the Callenberg Süd deposit and construction work on the St. Egidien nickel smelter as part of the Aue nickel smelter . The site north of the St. Egidien train station was chosen as the site for the nickel smelter , as it was easy to establish a railway connection to the Dresden – Werdau line . First the ore was brought to the station in St. Egidien by truck and delivered to the mining and smelting combine "Albert Funk" Freiberg . In the future, an ore railway was to take over the transport of the nickel ore from the open-cast mines about three kilometers away to the nickel smelter. Due to the course correction after the uprising of June 17, 1953 , this work was postponed for the time being. The VEB nickel ore mine Obercallenberg was connected to the VEB Nickelhütte St. Egidien on September 29, 1953 . However, they remained separate parts of the company. After construction of the nickel smelter was stopped in March 1954, the mining operations in St. Egidien were shut down.

Period of nickel mining in the Callenberg deposit

Ore train loading in the open pit

Crocoite from Callenberg

Due to the nickel ore analyzes and the technological changes in ore processing, i. H. After the test on an experimental racing furnace in 1954/55, the construction of the St. Egidien nickel smelter and the opening of the first Callenberg Süd I mine were resumed after the decision to use the racing method for nickel ore processing . The research and development center was relocated from the traditional location in Aue to St. Egidien at the beginning of 1954 . The topping-out ceremony for the 140 m high chimney took place on October 26, 1956.

To transport the mined nickel ore, an initially 6.2 km long mine railway line with a 900 mm gauge from the Callenberg South I opencast mine near Reichenbach , which was connected to the Obercallenberg mine station via a triangular track, was built to the nickel smelter in St. Egidien in 1959/1960. The transport was initially carried out using six steam tender locomotives from VEB Lokomotivbau Karl Marx Babelsberg and single-sided box tipping wagons with a capacity of 25 m³ each. There was also a factory railway with a 600 mm gauge and movable tracks for transporting overburden within the opencast mines. After the line was initially only used with steam locomotives, the line was electrified and EL 3 -E locomotives were used from 1961 . The total length of the route was 10 km. It connected the individual opencast mines, which were lined up in a north-south direction, with the St. Egidien nickel smelter. Production in the St. Egidien nickel smelter started in December 1960 with the commissioning of the first of four rotary kilns . These produced nickel-iron flakes from the hydrosilicate nickel ores from the Callenberg deposit . The raw materials came from the following local deposits:

Callenberg Süd I (1960–1977), south of Reichenbach ⊙

Callenberg Süd II (1980–1990), southeast of Reichenbach ⊙

Kiefernberg (from 1964 to 1965) (canceled for reasons of rationalization)

Callenberg North I (1973–1988), between Callenberg and Reichenbach ⊙ and ore body 7 (1984–1988), north of the Callenberg North I ⊙ opencast mine50.846331 12.6513750.851508 12.643106

Callenberg North II (1978–1990), between Callenberg and Langenchursdorf ⊙

Furthermore, ore deposits such as Meerane / Crimmitschau and Kuhschnappel were investigated, but they did not have the required nickel concentration. Mining of the ores began on July 10, 1960 in the Callenberg Süd I opencast mine with a UB 162 excavator from VEB Schwermaschinenbau NOBAS Nordhausen . The St. Egidien nickel smelter was affiliated to the VVB Nichtisenmetalle Eisleben in 1962 . After its dissolution, the St. Egidien nickel smelter was incorporated as a branch to the Lippendorf ferro-alloy plant in the VEB quality and stainless steel combine in Hennigsdorf in 1967/68 . The exploration of the Kiefernberg Nord opencast mine between Reichenbach and Falken, which began in 1964, including the expansion of the mine railway, was discontinued the following year and the siding dismantled.

In 1970 the Callenberg North I opencast mine between Callenberg and Reichenbach was opened. As a result, the mine railway was extended by 2.1 km in a northerly direction. The production from ore body 5 began on October 6, 1972, from ore body 6 from January 1973, from ore body 3 from April 1973 and from ore body 4 from February 1975. In 1975 the operating plan for the mining operation had a workforce of 97 Employees. At that time there were five UB 162 excavators available, which could be equipped with either a deep shovel or a 14 m long boom and pulling shovel. The company also had four S-100 and 36 type caterpillars of the characteristic single-sided tipping wagons. The production quantities fluctuated considerably depending on the degree of opening of the individual partial deposits. While no more overburden movement was required in Callenberg South I , Callenberg South I delivered 98,000 t of raw ore and Callenberg North I 141,000 t this year . In 1975, around 130,000 m³ of overburden had to be relocated for the re-opening of Callenberg North I. Other ore deposits such as Kiefernberg or Meerane were examined, but they did not contain the required nickel concentration. From the opening of mining in the Callenberg Süd I opencast mine in 1951 to its cessation in 1977, around 1 million tons of overburden and around 4 million tons of nickel ore were mined, from which 12,500 tons of nickel were extracted. After the opening of the Callenberg Nord II opencast mine on April 18, 1977, the extension of the mine railway to the north was put into operation on September 30, 1978.

In 1977 the dolomite mine in Meerane / Crimmitschau was taken over as an operating department because the dolomite was needed as an additive for smelting . From January 1, 1979, the St. Egidien nickel smelter was assigned to the VEB mining and smelting combine "Albert Funk" . The capacities of the St. Egidien nickel smelter were used from 1968 for mineral wool production, from 1979 for blasting media production (blasting sand) and at the beginning of the 1980s for the secondary production of consumer goods. During this time, nickel was extracted in a high degree of purity in the opencast mines of the deposit. In 1977 crocoite was discovered in the Callenberg North I opencast mine , a very rare metal that was previously only known from finds in Berjosowski in the Russian Oblast of Sverdlovsk , Dundas in Tasmania and Triger in Arizona ( USA ). By 1986, other large crystals were discovered along with other minerals.

Nickel mining declined in the 1980s

Oberwald reservoir

Chimney of the St. Egidien nickel smelter (2020)

In 1977 the production in the opencast mine Callenberg Süd I was stopped . As early as May 20, 1971, the council of the Hohenstein-Ernstthal district decided to expand the Callenberg Süd I opencast mine into a local recreation center, today's 16-hectare Oberwald reservoir . At the end of the term, the north-south extension of this open-cast mine was around 900 m. Northeast of the opened in 1982 as a reservoir Oberwald residual hole of the pit Callenberg South I took place from 1 August 1980, the disruption of the mine Callenberg South II largely in-house performance of employees. Like the ore body 7 exposed in 1984, northeast of Callenberg, it received a siding. The mine railway thus reached its greatest extent in 1985 with a length of 12 km.

From the mid-1980s it was foreseeable that the mining of nickel ores would come to a standstill. However, the operating plan for 1985/1986 showed an almost constant production of 205,000 t of raw ore compared to the period ten years earlier. The operating plan for 1985/86 showed only 91 employees, that of 1988/89 only 64 people. In 1989, 983 full-time employees were still working in the St. Egidien nickel smelter. In the last year of operation, 159,450 m³ of overburden was moved, which was dumped again in the ore body 7 open pit mine, which has since been removed. The two opencast mines, Callenberg North I and Callenberg North II, which were still in operation, had a production rate of 214,000 t of raw ore. At that time, six excavators of the type UB 162 and one further each of the type UB 1412 (ZEMAG) (for swampy terrain) and of the type UB 631 (smaller universal excavator) were in use. In 1988, production in the Callenberg Nord I opencast mine ended . A partial area was used as a Callenberg landfill between 1983 and 1994 and filled with household waste.

Between 1960 and 1990, a total of 9,145,426 t of raw ore was mined in the Callenberg deposit, from which 64,890 t of nickel and 759,200 t of iron were extracted. The individual partial storage facilities accounted for:

Callenberg Süd I (1960–1977): 4,019,709 t of raw ore, 28,000 t of nickel, 336,000 t of iron
Callenberg Süd II (1980–1990): 551,197 t raw ore, 3,390 t nickel, 48,500 t iron
Callenberg North I (1973–1988) with ore body 7 (1984–1988): 2,885,619 t raw ore, 22,700 t nickel, 228,700 t iron
Callenberg Nord II (1978–1990): 1,688,901 t raw ore, 10,800 t nickel, 146,000 t iron
Kiefernberg (1964–1965): 34,500 t nickel, 1,422 t cobalt, 32,200 t chromium

Reuse of the St. Egidien nickel smelter and recultivation of the production area around Callenberg from 1990

NSG of the former Callenberg North II nickel mine

With the political change and the new market situation, mining and production in the St. Egidien nickel smelter were stopped in 1990. The smelting had to be stopped on September 12, 1990 due to damage to the last furnace still in operation. The last tapping took place on October 26, 1990. In the last two active opencast mines, Callenberg South II and Callenberg North II , ore extraction and regular train operations ended on October 8, 1990. On June 3, 1991, the last train journey to transfer wagons to the mine yard. By the mid-1990s, the line was completely dismantled after the plans of an interest group for tourist use or even an extension to the Muldentalbahn to Waldenburg had failed due to funding. Most of the fully operational vehicles were scrapped, and parts of the track material were still used to build the Schönheide Museum Railway . In 1992 the mining station in Obercallenberg, including the vehicles still there, was designated as an industrial monument, but this was lifted two years later. On January 9, 1995, the facilities at the Obercallenberg depot, which had already been damaged by vandalism, were torn down and the vehicles still located there were scrapped. On the former area on the dam of the Oberwald reservoir between Reichenbacher Straße in the west and Bergstraße in the east, there is now a large parking lot and a wooded area. Nearby, two wagons on a piece of track and information boards remind of the time of the ore railway. A railway bridge is still preserved in Grumbach . The signals can still be found at the former bridge in Reichenbach. In addition, the foundations of the overhead line masts have been preserved on parts of the railway embankment. An exhibition about the time of nickel ore mining can be found in the Reichenbach cultural meeting place.

The St. Egigien nickel smelter was spun off from the combine after 1990 and transferred to Industriegesellschaft St. Egidien mbH . This began in St. Egidien with the demolition of superfluous works and the reclamation of the abandoned opencast mines. The area of the St. Egidien nickel smelter with the distinctive chimney became the Achat industrial park . In addition to the Industriegesellschaft St. Egidien mbH u. a. the special vehicle construction of Volkswagen Sachsen GmbH (since 2014) and Esda Strumpfwerke GmbH are located. The Zweckverband Achat bought the land of the industrial wasteland at the former opencast mine Callenberg Süd I in 1994 so that it could be used as a local recreation area. By a resolution of the district council of the district of Chemnitzer Land , the operation was passed into municipal ownership in 1997/98. While the Callenberg South I opencast mine was used for local recreation, the remaining hole in Callenberg North I was turned into a household waste dump (until 1994, after which it was rehabilitated and stored) and the remaining holes in Callenberg North II and ore bodies became 7 nature reserves. These two nature reserves were designated in 1993 and 1994, respectively. They have a total area of 27 hectares.

Web links

Commons : Nickelhütte St. Egidien - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

50.791338 12.621034Coordinates: 50 ° 47 ′ 28.8 " N , 12 ° 37 ′ 15.7" E