News in Brief 2021

The ground below Gronau and the surrounding area is a challenge, even for geologists: Salt has been mined here intensively for almost 50 years. This has created large cavities, known as caverns, at depths of between 1,000 and 1,500 m. Most of them are now used to store natural gas, crude oil or helium, and are important to the economy ...

Intensive mining has caused the terrain and surface to sink so substantially in some areas in the Ruhr area that large depressions have formed – referred to as polder areas. In these areas, waterways cannot always flow freely anymore. The “lower” areas therefore need to be continuously artificially drained to prevent the accumulation of water from rivers and lakes. These ...

Energy consumption in Germany was significantly above the comparable value for the previous year in the first six months of this year. According to preliminary calculations from the Working Group on Energy Balances (AG Energiebilanzen), Berlin/Germany, consumption in the first six months rose by 4.3 % to 6,191 PJ or 211.2 Mtce (Figure 1). There had still been a slight decrease ...

The first half of 2021 demonstrated that despite the agreed phase-out of coal, the fuel continues to make an important and reliable contribution to electricity generation. The amount of electricity generated in coal power stations increased by more than a third (35.6 %) to almost 25 TWh during a period of low temperatures and significantly less wind power compared to the ...

The remaining manufacturers of machines for raw material extraction in Germany recognise their opportunity and are investing in developments to further digitalise the global mining industry. In doing so, they are meeting the mining companies’ goals of automation and “zero emission”. At the end of the first half of 2021, the books of German mining machinery manufacturers show a big ...

The Energy Export Initiative is conducting a new study to analyse the potential of supplying power to mines using renewable energies. The emerging mining nations of Mali and Senegal serve as an example of how this can be done. The mining of industrial and precious metals, rare earth elements and precious stones is a very energy-intensive process. Pressure is growing ...

In addition to the existing office in Somerset, New York, the BEUMER Group, Beckum/Germany, has now opened a new office in Denver, Colorado/USA. This merged the offices in Kansas City, Missouri, and Dallas, Texas. The new location in Denver is strategically located that all customers can be easily reached. Here, projects in the business areas of mining and airport will ...

BEUMER Maschinenfabrik GmbH & Co. KG, the German regional company of BEUMER Group in Beckum, has a new managing director since May: Jörn Fontius (Figure 1). He succeeds Norbert Stemich, who after eight years in this position is now focusing on the activities in the Product Business area. In 2013, Jörn Fontius joined BEUMER and was in charge of the ...

Ulrich Wessel (Figure 1) will become Managing Director of DMT-Gesellschaft für Lehre und Bildung mbH (DMT-LB) in Bochum/Germany, as we make the transition from 2021 to 2022. The German Industrial Union for Mining, Chemicals and Energy (IG BCE), chaired by Michael Vassiliadis, named him Director of Labour Relations in the executive committee in agreement with the company’s Advisory Council. As ...

The management of energy company STEAG GmbH, Essen/Germany, resolved on 4th May 2021 to register further power plant units for provisional closure. A similar application had already been made in early April for the Model Power Plant (MKV) in Völklingen-Fenne in the Saarland. This is now followed by applications for the Völklingen-Fenne combined heat and power plant (HKV) and the ...