RAG Anthrazit Ibbenbüren GmbH

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)

Jürgen Scharnewski is the new CEO and Employee Relations Director at RAG Anthrazit Ibbenbüren GmbH in Ibbenbüren/Germany. He is taking over from Jörg Buhren-Ortmann, who has taken retirement.

At its regular meeting on 10th December 2019, the supervisory board of RAG Anthrazit Ibbenbüren GmbH, Ibbenbüren/Germany, made the decision to implement its planned changes in personnel among top-level management. Heinz-Werner Voß, former spokesperson for the management board, went into retirement on the 31st December 2019. Jürgen Kunz, previously head of production and authorised signatory at RAG Anthrazit Ibbenbüren, has been appointed as member and spokesperson of the business management of the association with effect from 1st January 2020. Jörg Buhren-Ortmann is planned to remain a member of the management board as labour director until 31st July 2020. As Michael Krämer, who previously held the positions of commercial director and authorised signatory also stepped down on 31st December 2019, the supervisory board appointed two new authorised signatories to support the business management in the form of Joachim Tuchenhagen (RAG Aktiengesellschaft) and Jürgen Scharnewski (RAG Anthrazit Ibbenbüren) on 1st January 2020.

“This mine has played a significant part in writing the history of the German coal mining industry,” stressed Peter Schrimpf, CEO at RAG and Chair of the Supervisory Board at RAG Anthrazit Ibbenbüren GmbH. His comments were made at the “Final skip” ceremony held on 4th December 2018 at the von Oeynhausen shaft to mark the closure of the Ibbenbüren mine (Figure 1).

Four hundred invited guests, employees and co-determination representatives descended on the site to see off an industry with a long-standing tradition in the Tecklenburger Land. Heinz-Werner Voß, spokesperson for the Executive Board, welcomed a great many high-ranking guests and associates, including Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia Armin Laschet, President of IG BCE Michael Vassiliadis, North Rhine-Westphalia’s Minister for Employment Karl-Josef Laumann, President of the Münster District Authority Dorothee Feller, Bishop of Münster Felix Genn, the entire RAG-Stiftung board of management, District Administrator Klaus Effing, and the mayors of the coal-mining communities.

Laschet expressed his respect for the miners: “We want to pay tribute to those who have made our state great,” he said. Schrimpf’s speech outlined the importance of the Ibbenbüren mining district in terms of implementing the German Hard Coal Financing Act in a way that is compatible with social responsibilities. He thanked the employees not only for their achievements, but also for the virtues and the values that they displayed throughout the course of their work.

As the coal mining industry draws to a close, we lose a significant source of value creation, lamented Vassiliadis. But although he still considers the decision to withdraw from coal mining to be a mistake, he conceded that this decision nonetheless had to be made to ensure that a socially responsible phase-out was achieved. In his address, Chair of the Ibbenbüren Works Council Uwe Wobben thanked the team for their work and for remaining highly motivated until the very last. Klaus Effing and mayor of Ibbenbüren Marc Schrameyer acknowledged the importance of mining and its contributions to the region, and asserted their optimism that the structural change could be managed successfully.
(RAG/Si.)