Espenhain opencast mine
| Espenhain opencast mine | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| General information about the mine | |||
| Mining technology | Open pit mine on 39.7 km² | ||
| Overburden | 1706 million tons | ||
| Funding / total | 565 million tons | ||
| Information about the mining company | |||
| Start of operation | 1937 | ||
| End of operation | 1996 | ||
| Successor use | Replenishment to the Störmthaler See , Markkleeberger See , retention basin Stöhna | ||
| Funded raw materials | |||
| Degradation of | Brown coal | ||
| Geographical location | |||
| Coordinates | 51 ° 14 '25.8 " N , 12 ° 27' 10.6" E | ||
|
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| local community | Markkleeberg , Großpösna , Böhlen | ||
| District ( NUTS3 ) | Leipzig | ||
| country | Free State of Saxony | ||
| Country | Germany | ||
| District | Central German lignite district | ||
The Espenhain open-cast mine was an operation for the extraction of lignite in the central German lignite area .
Geographical location
The Espenhain opencast mine was located southeast of the city of Leipzig and north of the eponymous town of Espenhain . Today the area of the open pit is in the district of Leipzig and belongs to the mining area south of Leipzig . The opencast mine was only separated from the Zwenkau open-cast mine to the west by the corridor of trunk road 2 and the Leipzig – Hof railway line .
history
In 1937, the joint stock company Sächsische Werke north of Espenhain began to open an open- cast lignite mine, which was intended to supply the lignite processing plant to the south of the town. The debris from the opening was dumped on the Trages dump east of Espenhain and south of the two villages Mölbis and Trages . The first coal was delivered in November 1939. From November 1944, the overburden was transported from the mining side to the dump side with a conveyor bridge . The overburden conveyor bridge called AFB 17 had a length of about 500 meters, until 1972, the date of commissioning of the F60 in Welzow-South , the largest mobile work machine in the world. Electrically powered trains were used to transport coal and topsoil. In the 1980s, tape transport was used in some cases.
In 1946 the company became Soviet property as a reparation payment and was run as a Soviet joint-stock company until 1954 . After it was returned to the GDR , the People's Own Enterprise (VEB) Kombinat Espenhain was created . In the GDR, individual parts of the company were often combined to form supra-regional units. From 1977 the opencast mine was called VEB Braunkohlenwerk (BKW) Borna, opencast mine Espenhain. From October 1, 1980, BKW Borna was then a combine operation of the nationally owned Bitterfeld lignite combine , from which the United Mitteldeutsche Braunkohlenwerke AG, later MIBRAG ( Mitteldeutsche Braunkohlengesellschaft mbH), was founded on July 1, 1990 .
With the reduction of the Central German lignite industry after the end of the GDR, the Espenhain opencast mine was gradually closed. On December 23, 1993, the use of the new site (pre-cut operation) was stopped, on April 30, 1994 the conveyor bridge was shut down, and on June 27, 1996 the last coal train left the mine (residual carbonization). On May 7, 1997 the overburden conveyor bridge was blown up.
Degradation process
After the opening, the opencast mine initially ran in a westerly direction and then swiveled to the north, roughly between the Pleißenaue (with the relocation of the Pleiße) as the western border and the main road F 95 as the initially eastern border. When Markkleeberg was reached around 1980, the so-called West construction site was completed, and the East construction site was tackled by swiveling to the east and continued in a south-easterly direction.
As a result of the operation of the Espenhain opencast mine, numerous villages that were in its catchment area had to be abandoned and their residents relocated. The demolished and dredged villages or districts were:
- Geschwitz (1951–1952)
- Stöhna (1955–1957)
- Turnips (1955–1957)
- Großdeuben , eastern parts (1956–1963)
- Zehmen (1957-1958)
- Gaschwitz , eastern parts (1964–65)
- Gruna, Dechwitz, Kötzschwitz, Sestewitz and Göhren (districts of Magdeborn ) (1965–1968)
- Crostewitz (district of Cröbern ) (1967–1972)
- Big cities , eastern fields (1967–1972)
- Markkleeberg-Ost, southern parts (1974–1975)
- Vorwerk Auenhain (1976)
- Desert Mark Getzelau , Crostewitz district (approx. 1978)
- Cröbern (1976–1980)
- remaining districts of Magdeborn, d. H. Magdeborn with Tanzberg and settlement, Göltzschen (1977–1980)
- Rödgen (district of Störmthal ) (1984–1988)
In total, more than 8,000 people were resettled. The Espenhain opencast mine claimed a total of 39.7 km² of land. During its operation, 565 million tons of raw lignite were extracted and 1,706 million tons of overburden moved.
The Espenhain opencast mine was scheduled to run until 2035. Due to the early closure of the mine, the following locations were spared demolition (year of the planned demolition in brackets)
- Dreiskau-Muckern (1995-2000)
- Pötzschau (large and small Pötzschau, Dahlitzsch) (2000)
- Oelzschau (2010)
- Störmthal (2025)
Reclamation
The site of the former opencast mine is used in various ways. The initial areas north of Rötha are again arable land. The Stöhna retention basin serves as a flood protection system .
To the north-east of this are the mechanical-biological waste treatment plant and the Cröbern central landfill of Westsächsische Entsorgungs- und Verwertungsgesellschaft mbH. Waste from household, industry and trade is treated and deposited here, including up to 570 tons of residues from oil and gas production between 2006 and 2009 , which may contain natural radioactive substances . Radioactivity limit values were not exceeded. Almost half of the planned landfill capacity was already filled by the end of 2008, and the height of the landfill is to increase from 40 meters in 2009 to 48 meters in the end.
In some areas of the former overburden area, new forest is growing. The remaining hole of the opencast mine was separated into two parts by embankments, over which the Autobahn 38 now runs, in which two lakes with sports and recreational opportunities have arisen, the Markkleeberger and the Störmthaler See . The Lausitzer und Mitteldeutsche Bergbau-Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH (LMBV) is the project sponsor for the renovation and design of the post-mining landscape .
Web links
- On the geology of the Espenhain opencast mine: Saxon State Office for Environment and Geology / Sächsisches Oberbergamt (Hrsg.): The brown coal mining in the south of Leipzig. Dresden 2004, p. 46
- Opencast mine Espenhain at Ostkohle.de
- Pictures of the demolition of the conveyor bridge
- LMBV
- Private website with numerous pictures from the Espenhain opencast mine
- Private page with pictures from the Espenhain opencast mine
- Opencast mine Espenhain at Devastiert.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Ostkohle, Espenhain opencast mine
- ↑ Radioactive residues from oil and gas production, German Bundestag, 17th electoral period, answer of the Federal Government, printed matter 17/844, February 24, 2010, electronic version (PDF; 171 kB)
- ^ Website of the central landfill Cröbern ( Memento from December 6, 2010 in the Internet Archive )