RAG Aktiengesellschaft

On 25th August 2021, Michael Kalthoff, Member of the Board at RAG Aktiengesell-schaft, Essen/Germany, and Prof. Hans-Heinrich Witte, President of the Federal Shipping and Waterways Administration (WSV), Bonn/Germany, signed in Essen an agreement on final subsidence damage control for the Rhine bed in the Duisburg and Wesel region (Figure 1).

This agreement between the two parties, RAG and WSV, marks a successful end to years of effective and focused cooperation on the Rhine. In particular, as a result of the decades of coal mining, the Rhine bed between Duisburg and Wesel would frequently sink and need to be regularly raised.

Prof. Witte: “The conclusion we have reached today enables us to purposefully guide the Rhine into the future. We are drawing on our extensive experience and expertise in waterways engineering in the agreed subsidence damage control measures, as the Rhine is crucial to our future too.”

Kalthoff: “After a series of constructive negotiations, we are delighted to have reached a final agreement with the WSV. We have always cooperated in good faith in the past. Our final cost contribution will enable the Rhine bed to be stabilised in the long term and finally conclude the subsidence damage control work.”

Since mining activities have come to an end, the Rhine bed will be stabilised for the long term and final subsidence damage control work completed. This subsidence damage control work was planned by the WSV and is based on the expert reports compiled by the Federal Institute for Waterways Engineering and Research and the Federal Institute of Hydrology.

RAG agrees that these plans are a technically sensible conclusion to previous measures taken and is participating in the work with a final one-off contribution of approximately 15 M €. (RAG/Si)

Around nine years after the Saar mine stopped operating, RAG Aktiengesellschaft, Essen/Germany, can now finally withdraw from the mine workings. Two recent decisions by the Saarland mining authorities, namely the approval of the colliery closure plan by the local mining authority and the issuing of the permit under water laws by the Upper Mining Authority, paved the way for this step. The latter allows RAG to raise 19.8 M m³ of mine water at the Duhamel site each year and discharge it into the Saar (Figure 1).

“The positive decision, particularly in the official planning procedure, confirms that we have met the extensive requirements,” says Chair of RAG Board of Management Peter Schrimpf, pleased with the progress. “This approval means that we can now fulfil our responsibility towards the Saar region.”

Upon departure from the mines, there will be a small rise in the mine water level in order to connect the previously separate water provinces of Reden and Duhamel – and to enable the mine water to be discharged solely at the Duhamel site. RAG had applied to convert the drainage sites of Reden and Duhamel into bottling plants. “Preparatory work to comply with the numerous and extensive incidental provisions at both sites is already underway,” says Michael Drobniewski, Director of the Water Drainage division (V-WH). He explains that the withdrawal cannot be finalised until these provisions are met.

The Director of the Permit Management division at RAG (V-GM), Werner Grigo is also pleased with the approval. “It is the result of a great deal of work by many employees, as well as our cooperative and transparent communication.” The hearing in 2019 was also evidently a crucial factor: Grigo explains that the discussions with all stakeholders from the world of politics, authorities and society provided a solid basis for decision-making.

Integral monitoring plays an important role in this context. As part of this process, all parameters recorded in connection with the rise and discharge of mine water are transparently communicated and any actions discussed with those involved. “We are not simply leaving the rise in mine water levels to chance,” says Grigo. “The integral monitoring, a system of observation and analysis, will enable us to achieve a good result for everyone involved within the framework of a cooperative process.”

The rise in mine water levels is expected to take around three years once the pumps are shut off. The water will then be discharged back into the Saar river. This will permanently and completely relieve tributaries like the Sinnerbach and Blies of mine water. (RAG/Si.)

To ensure that subsequent German coal mining industry operations run efficiently in the post-mining era, RAG Anthrazit Ibbenbüren GmbH has merged with RAG Aktiengesellschaft, Essen/Germany, with economic effect from 1st January 2021.

As part of the merger, all existing business relationships are automatically transferred from RAG Anthrazit Ibbenbüren GmbH to RAG Aktien-gesellschaft by way of universal succession. This is purely an organisational procedure.

Virtually nothing will change as far as RAG Anthrazit customers, suppliers and interested parties are concerned: The usual local contact partners at RAG Anthrazit Ibbenbüren GmbH will also remain the same. They can still be contacted using their existing contact details at what is now the independent RAG Ibbenbüren division within RAG Aktiengesellschaft. (RAG)

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 Company Director for personnel-related and social issues, Wessel is currently responsible for the K-SG and K-IT divisions as well as for the previous central divisions of RAG Aktiengesellschaft, Essen, and is responsible also as a Member of the Board of Management and Director of Labour Relations at RAG Montan Immobilien GmbH, Essen.

“We are delighted that we were able to acquire Ulrich Wessel for the new job. He brings with him outstanding knowledge of his field. That’s why we are sure that the position could be ideally occupied by him,” says Bärbel Bergerhoff-Wodopia, Chair of the Board of Management of DMT e. V. as well as Chair of the Advisory Board of DMT-LB. “I will miss Ulrich Wessel as a colleague and the company will miss him as an important executive. And I wish him all the best in the field of mining in the future,” adds Chair of the RAG Board of Management Peter Schrimpf. (RAG/Si.)

Search engines like Google and others show the way: Enter keywords or a short question and the result you are looking for is there. The KISS42 project promises the answer to all operational questions for RAG Aktiengesellschaft, Essen/Germany. In cooperation with an interdisciplinary RAG team, the start-up ambeRoad Tech GmbH from Aachen developed the intelligent search engine amberSearch – designed for the specific data and requirements of the company (Figure 1). It not only helps to make research in RAG’s documents efficient for employees, but above all to make the archived knowledge from 150 years of coal mining usable for current operational tasks.

“For us, the project was a successful start to the use of AI methods in the field of geoinformation and search technology. The know-how and innovative spirit of ambeRoad opened up completely new possibilities for the intelligent use of our databases,” emphasises Peter Vosen, head of the geodata department at RAG and head of the KISS42 project.

“It’s always exciting when start-ups work together with corporations; sometimes two cultures collide,” says Julian Reinauer from ambeRoad. “The cooperation with RAG has shown that both sides can learn from each other. On the one hand, the corporations benefit from the speed and agility of the startups, on the other hand, startups gain insights into the processes and structures of large corporations.”

It may come as a surprise, but even an artificial intelligence has to learn before it can fully display its competence. During a trial phase, the search engine amberSearch first learned what types of data it should be able to read: Geodata, Office documents from Excel to PowerPoint, PDFs, but also maps, graphics, images and much more should be available to users to match the query. Another challenge: the sources. Because the company data are often in different places: in SharePoint team rooms or in databases – they come from SAP, Elo or the company-wide intranet.

Also on the syllabus: the mining language with all its technical terms and the special features of the coal industry – for the coal industry, robbery is not a criminal offence, Walsum is not just a district of Duisburg and West and East refer to much more than just the direction of the sky. “Training our algorithms to use these special terms was a huge challenge at first, but in the end, users learn to love our search,” says Philipp Reißel from ambeRoad.

Teething problems of the software had to be cured, the user-friendliness of the search had to be ensured: As simple as possible, as complex as necessary, was the motto. And last but not least, the artificial intelligence must also understand and implement the different authorisations of the RAG users so that data protection is maintained with all transparency.

The new search is based on an existing database software, the “Digital Service File”. It is available to all RAG employees as a research tool, but so far it only maps a section of the company’s data and is more of a Google for specialists. Furthermore, in future more data sources will be integrated. KISS42 also expands the in-house data with information from the internet, searches and adds to it and creates intelligent links from internal and public documents. The search results are available within a few fractions of a second and this with millions of documents and around 40 TB of data volume.

After the company-wide implementation, the artificial intelligence continues to learn – with every user feedback, every query, based on selected search results and recurring search terms. KISS42 is constantly optimising itself, so to speak, and in the end provides the right answers to all questions. (ambeRoad/Si.)

It’s been two years since the last mines in North Rhine-Westphalia have been closed. On 21st December 2018 RAG miner handed over the last coal from the Prosper-Haniel mine in Bottrop/Germany, to Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Today RAG Aktiengesellschaft, Essen/Germany, has met all conditions to finally bid farewell to the underground world (Figure 1). “All of this in difficult times – and accident-free”, says CEO of RAG, Peter Schrimpf, praising his team. And the company is satisfied with the performances in 2020.

Also for the two mines in Ibbenbüren and Bottrop, which received assistance until most recently, the irrevocable farewell from the mine is now approaching, around two years after the shutdown of production, with the final deactivation of the pumps. While in Ibbenbüren the closure plan for leaving the rest of the mine was already approved in April, the mining authorities also issued this last approval in November for the Prosper-Haniel mine in Bottrop. With the approval for the closure plan procedures of the former Lohberg mine expected at the beginning of the year, RAG will come another step closer to the complete mining withdrawal and thus the implementation of the mine water concept in the Ruhr area because the site in Dinslaken is absolutely crucial in the RAG’s concept. “With this approval the mine water there can rise to a level of -630 m. This, in turn, is the prerequisite for enabling the mine water to spill over from Prosper-Haniel to Lohberg and no longer having to be fed into the Emscher river”, explains Schrimpf. In doing so, an important step is taken to completely free the Emscher of mine water by the end of 2021. The Emscher rebuild generation project can also be completed.

Apart from the mining approvals, the water permits for the raising and subsequent introduction of mine water into the receiving waters are now also entering a “stressful phase”. The mine water concept for the Ruhr area provides that in future mine water still only be raised from great depths at six locations with large submersible pumps and fed into the Ruhr, Lippe and primarily into the Rhine. In Ibbenbüren the mine water should go into the Aa via a mine water channel still to be built. Schrimpf: “We will create these processes openly and transparently. In the end it is about relieving as many river kilometres as possible of mine water and thus making a natural development of the waters possible.” The CEO of RAG attaches huge importance to the fact that the company is also available as a contact partner to citizens in the former mining regions even after the end of the coal mining sector. Schrimpf: “We’re here and will remain so. We will keep our word and tackle the impacts of mining in a responsible manner.”

To this end, RAG has restructured itself. There are currently just under 1,240 employees at RAG. In 2007, when the political decision was made to end the coal mining sector, the number of employees was 34,000. Almost 33,000 employees were laid off in a socially responsible manner. All those who were unable to transition into early retirement were offered new alternative jobs repeatedly. Around 160 former miners rejected all offers and filed a suit against RAG after compulsory redundancies. Schrimpf: “The behaviour of the colleagues really affected me personally. It shows a lack of solidarity. I have no time or sympathy. We will examine all available means of legal redress!”

The realignment of RAG also meant that the group had to part with business activities, e. g., from RAG Mining Solutions at the end of 2020. Since 2009 the company has marketed RAG mining equipment that is no longer required worldwide. Over 70 M € were generated in total. Schrimpf: “This was a further illustration of the excellent reputation German mining know-how and equipment enjoyed on an international level.”

On 31st December 2020 the former marketer of domestic coal and at one time the biggest German coal importer, RAG Verkauf, also ceased operation. For almost seven decades the company made a significant contribution to energy security in Germany (Figure 2). “RAG Verkauf always played a key role for the RAG Group”, says the CEO of RAG. “If RAG Verkauf was not able to market our coal, then the entire phase-out process of the German coal mining sector would not have been possible in a socially responsible manner. Because the necessary public funding was not available for the extracted, but for the sold tonnes of coal.” Since the middle of the 1990s, RAG Verkauf has also marketed international coal in addition to German coal and became an important coal importer, in 1998 it became Germany’s biggest coal importer.

The organisational optimisation of the property-related tasks is also making good progress. All activities, which are assigned to post-mining, such as the renovation of former mine areas or the cleaning of groundwater at former sites of coking plants, should be processed by RAG directly in the future. However, after the reorganisation the land development urgently required for new industrial locations in the former mining regions on the Ruhr, in Ibbenbüren and in Saarland remains a core activity of RAG Montan Immobilien. Schrimpf: “It makes a significant contribution to the structural change.”

At RAG the year 2020 was also characterised by corona. Schrimpf: “The pandemic showed us how vulnerable and fragile people, but also economic processes are. We were once again reminded of how important it is to support each other. Together we embraced the challenges and maintained the necessary business processes and at the same time were able to protect our staff.” (RAG/Si.)

Our underground is on the move. However, the shocks are often so small and spatially restricted that they are only detectable for very sensitive sensors. Even where mining was once conducted and people interfered with the natural geology and deposits, it may subsequently cause microseismic shocks. Paloma Primo, scientist at the Research Center of Post-Mining (FZN) at the TH Georg Agricola University (THGA), Bochum/Germany, pursues these mini-movements. In the new research project “PostMinQuake”, the expert examines how they occur exactly, identifies particularly endangered structures and develops a long-term risk management system for affected regions (Figure 1). To this end, she works closely with many European partners. Because also in the Czech Republic, Poland and France the post-mining period should not become a “nail-biting affair”. “The joint project is just as complex as the circumstances underground”, says Primo. “Our investigations go beyond the simple connections between seismicity and the geological activities in the decommissioned coal mines partly filled with water.”

Experts from various disciplines are working together in the project, including surveyors, geotechnical engineers or hydro-logists. Together they monitor the geological dynamics in the respective test areas, which have been changed by coal mining – in Germany this is mainly the Ruhr area, the Ibbenbüren and Aachen mining districts. “In these areas we document microseismic activities underground roughly once a week. There are also records from the past, which we analyse and put into context.” Primo obtains her data from the Geological Survey NRW, RAG Aktiengesellschaft, the Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), as well as seismological stations at the Ruhr-University Bochum (RUB). “At these stations we can determine time, size, place and depth of the event.”

The experts are pursuing an important common objective, explains Primo: “With our research we want to guarantee long-term safety, create transparency and inform the public. Because every municipality and every former mine operator should have sound knowledge of the processes that take place underground. When it comes to the topic of ground movements there are many fears and misunderstandings about what microseismic events are and the effects they can have.” Therefore, the main objective of the project is to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms of microseismic events after mining and create plans for the long-term monitoring of the soil after mining.

What external factors cause the micro-shocks? What factors can be used to realistically simulate the impacts on the PC? And how can satellite images help to properly interpret the data acquired from underground? “We’re talking here about vast amounts of data, which first of all we have to standardise in order to make it comparable and then be able to evaluate it using the latest methods”, says Primo. Over the next three years the project team will develop a reference database from the findings for European areas after mining. The research should also help to develop new monitoring strategies and interpretation methods for areas with increased risk of earthquakes. The project is part of the EU-financed Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS). (THGA/Si.)

Alfons von Bronk, former Member of the Executive Board of Bergbau AG Lower Rhine, died on 2nd December 2020 at the age of 91 (Figure 1). “We have lost an exceptional person, to whom we owe a great deal. We will cherish his memory”, said Peter Schrimpf, CEO of RAG Aktiengesellschaft, Essen/Germany.

Von Bronk dedicated his entire career to coal mining. After posts in the underground operation of the König Ludwig 1/2 mine and as department manager for personnel/workers’ rights, in 1968 he became Manager of Human Resources of Ruhrkohle AG. In 1986 von Bronk was appointed to the Executive Board of Bergbau AG Lower Rhine. In a period marked by changes for the entire indigenous coal mining sector, he championed the company’s interests and concerns of staff demonstrating exceptional commitment and profound expertise. (RAG/Si.)

For almost seven decades long RAG Verkauf GmbH, Herne/Germany, made a significant contribution towards energy security in Germany (Figure 1). A success story whose last chapter comes to an end at the turn of the year. On 31st December 2020 – a good two years after the closure of the last two RAG mines – the former marketer of domestic coal and at one time Germany’s largest coal importer ceases its activities – but not without paving the way for the future for the staff, as well as individual business and product areas.

“RAG Verkauf has always played a decisive role for the RAG Group”, says Michael Kalthoff, RAG Chief Financial Officer and Chairman of the Advisory Board of RAG Verkauf. Thanks to detailed market knowledge and very good customer contacts, the sales specialists always managed to reliably sell the extraction of the local mines, even in difficult times. An extraordinary achievement, which was also necessary in order to make possible the entire phase-out process of the German coal mining sector in a socially acceptable manner. Because the necessary public funding was not available for the extracted, but for the sold tonnes of coal. According to Kalthoff, the efforts of all staff of RAG Verkauf therefore deserve the special appreciation and recognition of the Group’s entire workforce.

Despite these successes and a successful restructuring and development process, it was still unavoidable to cease the business operations of RAG Verkauf at the end of the year. Because without the domestic coal mining sector, RAG is simply no longer the so-called “Best Owner” in the post-mining era. Kalthoff is very pleased that it managed to close the company without any upheavals in a joint effort with the social partner.

RAG Verkauf employed more than 200 staff at its peak; in November 2020 this figure was still 16. The funds for the socially acceptable reduction of staff essentially covered transferring people from one job to another through the sale of entire business units including job guarantee for the RAG Verkauf staff, as well as semi-retirement models. “My heartfelt thanks to all involved for the successful realisation”, says Kalthoff. “And in particular to our social partner, who was always by our side during the entire time.”

The Steelworks Agreement concluded in 1968 and extended in 1985 and the Century Contract concluded in 1977 with its supplementary agreements between the mining and electricity industry were the basis for the supplies of German coal until into the 1990s (Figure 2).

“Since 1996 the sale of German coal has been in competition with the global market price. We are proud that RAG Verkauf sold over 0.6 bn t of coal and coke since then”, says Manfred Müller, Chairman of the Managing Board. “Over all these years the objectives of RAG Verkauf were able to be achieved thanks to the high identification and motivation of our staff.”

Since the company’s foundation in 1953, at that time it was called Präsident Ruhrkohlen Verkaufsgesellschaft mbH, the company has pursued a major core business: the marketing of German coal. Supplies of fine coal, lump coal and low-grade coal to the power industry represented the largest business area. Apart from large energy supply companies, other customers included municipal utilities and municipal providers. Through wholesale channels in the heating market sized anthracite also went to small consumers such as nurseries and garden centres who do not convert it into electricity or also as domestic fuel to public buildings and private households.

The large customers of the iron and steel producing industry used coking coal for their coking plants, as well as coke and pulverised coal injection for direct use in their furnaces. RAG Verkauf was also responsible for the sale of foundry coke, crushed coke and coke breeze. There was also products on the “white side” of the coking plants, mainly gas and coal derivatives such as tar and ammonia, which are used in the chemical industry as a raw material for numerous products – from toothpaste to plastics through to fertilisers.

Other business activities were added over the years, such as the marketing of tailings, which arose with the coal production, and the material flow management for the resource-friendly treatment and recycling of various materials. This also includes the cost-optimised and on-time secure backfilling of the RAG shafts no longer in use, which is a basic prerequisite for the release of the mine areas from the mining authority and thus also for the establishment of companies and jobs.

Since the middle of the 1990s, RAG Verkauf has also marketed international coal in addition to German coal and in 1998 became Germany’s biggest coal importer. The company purchased the import coking coal required for the Prosper coke plant directly from producers in Australia, the USA and Canada. The sale of the coke plant to ArcelorMittal Bremen in 2011, in which RAG Verkauf played a role in the negotiations, did not change anything in this regard.

The business also changed with the end of the German coal mining sector. The direct marketing of coal and coke is completed. In order to give the “International coal and coke trade” business unit prospects for the future, RAG Verkauf sold it in August 2018 to Xcoal Energy & Resources Germany GmbH with its registered office in Essen. By the end of 2020, RAG Verkauf secured the commercial winding-up of German coal production and is further developing the material flow management business field, including the shaft backfilling. From 2021 this business unit will be continued under the umbrella of RAG Montan Immobilien GmbH. (RAG/Si)

On 30th September 2020, RAG Aktiengesellschaft, Essen/Germany, submitted the planning notification for the drainage and discharge of mine water in the Ruhr at the three central water pumping sites Robert Müser, Friedlicher Nachbar and Heinrich (Figure 1) to the Mining Authorities of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.

After the planning notification for the Haus Aden site and thus for the future discharge to the Lippe district was already submitted in the first quarter of this year, the RAG is also seeking a water permit in the Ruhr. In addition, the company is also planning the start of the approval process for the central water pumping site Lohberg this year.

Along the Ruhr the mine water is drained and discharged at the three sites Robert Müser and Friedlicher Nachbar in Bochum, as well as Heinrich in Essen. Mine water which is only slightly mineralised has already been discharged at the discharge points under view for several decades. The amount of the mine water to be discharged is not changing; it will remain at around 25 M m³/a altogether. The company is obtaining authorisation for instead of the previous 60 only 37 M m³ in order to be able to continue to discharge mine water in the case of deviations, such as extreme rainfall.

“The special feature of the water discharge consent for the Ruhr is that we are considering all three sites in one process”, states Project Coordinator Ralf Tinnefeld from the Permit Management Department (V-GM) on the special features of the procedure. This allows a holistic view of the objects of protection to be examined in the environmental impact assessment.

After a review of the planning notification the district government will send it to other public interest bodies such as authorities, associations and municipalities and invite them to the scoping meeting. At this meeting, the content and scope of the documents submitted by RAG in the water law procedure requiring an EIA will be discussed.

Even though the sites are being considered in one process, the application and approval are effected on a local level. “This is important as water rights always only have a limited term and can be cancelled and adapted at any time”, explains Thomas Brambrink, Department Manager for Water Discharge Consent/Monitoring at V-GM. “If this is the case at one site, a location-specific adaptation can be implemented without having to reopen the entire procedure.”

The water law approval procedure for the Ruhr is the next important element in the optimisation of mine water management of the RAG. (RAG/Si.)