Prosper-Haniel in Bottrop

Prosper-Haniel
Prosper-Haniel (Source: RAG), Click to enlarge

The sinking of shaft 1 began in August 1856 and bituminous coal was reached at a depth of 175.9 m in 1860. Extraction commenced in 1863 with a workforce of 315. The first coking plant was set up on the Prosper I site in the same year. With the economic upturn of the early 1870s came the start of sinking of shaft 2 on the site of Prosper II, where the Malakow head frame still stands today. Production from this shaft began in 1875,with the breakthrough to Prosper I following in 1877.
Over the years a very comprehensive process of consolidation took place, clearly reflecting the northward migration of the coal industry in the Ruhr. In 1974 Ruhrkohle AG joined the Prosper, Jacobi and Franz Haniel mines to form the Verbundwerk Prosper-Haniel. It comprised the Prosper I (1/4/5), Prosper II (2/3/8), Prosper III (6/7), Prosper IV (shaft 9), Arenberg-Fortsetzung 1/2, Jacobi 1/2, Franz Haniel1/2 and Möller 5 pits, and the Prosper coking plant.
On 27th May 2011, the 7th working level at a depth of 1159 metres was officially opened by the mayor of the city of Bottrop, Bernd Tischler. Annual production currently stands at 4 million tons of mined coal and 2 million tons of coke production, with a total workforce of 4100 employees.
Decommissioning of the mine is scheduled for 2018.
This text is a translation of an extract from ”Bergwerk Prosper-Haniel“. In: Wikipedia, Die freie Enzyklopädie. Processing status: 18 October 2012, 03:58 UTC. URL: http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bergwerk_Prosper-Haniel&oldid=109454591 (Processing request: 21 February 2013, 12:53 UTC).

Auguste Victoria in Marl

Mine Auguste Victoria (Source: RAG), Click to Enlarge

Düsseldorfers August Stein (Councillor of Commerce) and Julius Schäfer (engineer and factory owner) struck coal during experimental drilling. In 1899 they formed the Auguste Victoria mining union, named after the Queen of Prussia and the last German Empress Auguste Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, and acquired the HansiI and HansiII mining claims, which had been consolidated in 1898. Sinking works for shaft 1 of the new mine began on Victoriastraße in Hüls, followed by the sinking of shaft 2 a few metres further in 1900. In 1901, work was halted because of hard marl layers and water encroachment at a depth of 40 m. The works on shaft 2 resumed in 1902 with the freezing process, while shaft 1 was temporarily abandoned. The shafts were subsequently renumbered, with shaft 2 now becoming shaft 1. In 1903, the first shaft, now shaft 2, was sunk deeper. In 1904 shaft 1 reached carboniferous rock at a depth of around 580 m, shaft 2 a year later at around 591 m. The two shafts went into operation in 1905 and 1906.

In 1938, lead and zincore reserves were found in the "William-Köhler“ corridor of Auguste Victoria and also mined under the self-sufficiency efforts of the Third Reich. In the 1950s, some 20% of German ore production was mined at Auguste Victoria (1956: 349,000 t). However, mining proved uneconomical and ceased in 1962.

The site of shafts 1 and 2 is now home to the Auguste Victoria training centre. The shafts were filled in 2007 and the cables dismantled from the headframes. Shaft 6 was filled in November 2012. The winding tower above shaft 4 was preserved and entered in the German heritage register in 1995. A local mining museum was opened in the machine hall of shaft 4 in 2005.

The mine is scheduled for decommissioning in 2015.

This text is a translation of an extract from “ZecheAuguste Victoria”. In: Wikipedia, Die freie Enzyklopädie. Processing status: 27 January 2013, 14:52 UTC. URL: http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Zeche_Auguste_Victoria&oldid=113470711 (Processing request: 21 February 2013, 12:05 UTC)