RAG

Jürgen Kroker, Works Manager at the Prosper-Haniel mine in Bottrop/Germany, departed the company on 31st December. Taking over from him, Thomas Telsemeyer, formerly Production Manager at Prosper-Haniel, has been in charge of the mine’s Shutdown team since 1st January 2019.

On 3rd November 2018, citizens, active and former miners and their families, mining clubs and local groups of the IG BCE trade union can say farewell to the German coal mining industry at five different RAG locations in the Ruhr region and Ibbenbüren as part of the “Danke Kumpel!” (“Thanks, miners!”) event (Figure 1). Those who are interested are invited to send in their own personal good wishes. These will be presented on the day of the event.

On 3rd November, under the slogan of “Danke Kumpel!” , the work and output of the miners will be commemorated at five different RAG locations in the Ruhr region and Ibbenbüren before the last coal is extracted on 21st December 2018. The events will be held outdoors.

Citizens are invited to post their own personal messages of farewell to the German coal mining industry at www.glueckauf-zukunft.de or to send them in by mail. All citizens will therefore have the opportunity to express their personal gratitude by sending good wishes. Visitors will also be able to pass on their greetings on the day of the event. They will be projected live onto a large screen and displayed throughout the entire event. Some of the messages that are sent in will be pre-selected to appear on a commemorative installation. One of these installations will remain at each location as a tribute to the German coal mining industry.

Entry is free, although a ticket will be required. Those who would like to attend can book their tickets online at www.glueckauf-zukunft.de or by calling +49 (0) 211 51332 252.

Further information is available at: www.glueckauf-zukunft.de // www.facebook.com/RAGStiftung // www.twitter.com/ragstiftung (RAG/Si.)

In recent times, false and misleading information has been circulating regarding the possibility of subsidence damage occurring during the planned rise of mine water levels in the Saarland. As things currently stand, RAG Aktiengesellschaft, Essen/Germany, does not expect the proposed raising of the mine water levels to 320 m below sea level to cause damage through heave.

Accompanying reports also rate the risk of heave-related damage as extremely low. On this basis, RAG is confident that no damage of any kind will arise. The company has announced that there is no need to make use of the subsidence compensation wavers previously agreed by homeowners in land registries.

If, contrary to expectations, minor damage does occur, the following applies: Any such subsidence damage caused by heave will, of course, be settled by RAG. This is also specified in the Federal Mining Act (BBergG). The section on the presumption of subsidence damage applies in identical form for areas affected by heave. This specifies that these owners have the same rights as those whose property is affected by subsidence caused by mining.

Any such settlement is not affected by services that have already been paid for and/or any possible prior final settlements. This is because cases of heave damage are treated as “new events”, which must be considered separately. Consequently, any possible statutes of limitation must not be applied.

RAG has notified the Saarland’s Upper Mining Authority of this in a detailed letter. (RAG/Si.)

The North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry for Economic Affairs, the city of Recklinghausen/Germany and RAG Aktiengesell-schaft, Herne/Germany, are in favour of preserving the training mine in the Recklinghausen-Süd district. This was explained during a visit by the Minister for Economic Affairs, Garrelt Duin, Mayor Christoph Tesche and RAG Director Stefan Hager (Figure 1). Minister Duin said: “The facility is an asset in three respects: Firstly, it conveys a fascinating realistic image of the underground world and will attract tourists both from the region and further afield. Secondly, even after coal mining has come to an end in this country, mining suppliers will be able to demonstrate the quality of their machines to international customers. And finally, it is a very popular location among film-makers.”

RAG does not have the ways and means to continue operating the training mine as of 2019, once coal production has ended. Hager: “We at RAG are unable to secure the training mine’s future. Which is why we are pleased to find partners into whose responsible hands we can pass this institution. We have always kept the training mine up to date with modern technology, for our own benefit. Currently there is nowhere else above ground that gives you as authentic an experience of mining as here in Recklinghausen. This is an opportunity for the city of Recklinghausen and the mining region to benefit from tourism.”

The North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry for Economic Affairs together with the District Government of Arnsberg, the city of Recklinghausen and RAG will now establish what the future of the institution might look like in specific terms and who could operate the “mine”. Mining machine manufacturers from North Rhine-Westphalia have also stated their interest in preserving the training mine, along with the Smart Mining global network of EnergieAgentur.NRW. They have requested that it remains a “training mine” at the very least, in order to continue to test machines and train staff to use them. Of course, this would mean many visitors could still get a glimpse of the underground world – but without access to the deposit itself.

“Recklinghausen has grown up with coal and has a close relationship with mining,” highlighted the Mayor of Recklinghausen, Tesche. He continued: “That is why we would like to preserve the training mine as a piece of our contemporary history, as a site for discovering mining and for further use. This will enable us to create a tourist destination and a unique landmark in the north of the Ruhr region. At the same time, it will create the new jobs we desperately need owing to the end of the mining industry in Recklinghausen.”

The RAG training mine is located in the spoil tip on the site of the former Recklinghausen II coal mine (Figure 2). With a drift measuring 1,200 m, various types of extraction equipment, tunnelling and a shaft, it provides a realistic representation of the underground world. The most important machines and equipment used for a range of tasks from preliminary work to extraction, as well as transport right through to communication and control equipment, are concentrated in a small area in the training mine. RAG primarily uses the equipment to train skilled personnel under realistic conditions. There is even a 17 m deep shaft available for training purposes.

The training mine also provides ideal conditions for research projects, such as a collision warning system for international mining which was developed here by a consortium of eight European companies led by the RWTH Aachen University. The German Aerospace Center also used the training mine to test an innovative shaft inspection system with high-tech modules for abandoned mines in cooperation with RAG.

Moreover, the training mine has served as a filming location on multiple occasions. E. g., scenes from “The Miracle of Bern”, as well as two German TV series “Alarm für Cobra 11” and “Der letzte Bulle” were all filmed here.

The “mine workings” originally arose from the spoil tip of the Clerget shaft sunk in 1870, also known locally as the “Klärchen” shaft. The mine was only renamed “Recklinghausen II” at a later date and mined coal from 1875 until it was decommissioned in 1972. In the Second World War, the drifts in the spoil tip served as a military hospital and an air raid shelter and were not used for a long time thereafter. The mine has been used by RAG for training purposes since 1975. Up until 2003, trainees still used a drift in the spoil tip of around 250 m in length. Today, the training mine receives some 6,000 visitors every year with exercises and training sessions held for professional development, catering for up to 100 people per day. In addition to realistic underground conditions, the mine has two rooms equipped for modern multimedia and a number of seminar rooms to assist with the delivery of these sessions. (RAG/Si.)

The North Rhine-Westphalian State Environment Minister, Johannes Remmel, summarised the results of a feasibility study for an underground pumped-storage power station at the Prosper-Haniel mine near the city of Bottrop in a few words: “Prosper-Haniel could be transformed from a mine into a power station and then into a battery”. He presented the first part of the study alongside Chairman of the Board at RAG Bernd Tönjes, Prof. Dr. André Niemann from the University of Duisburg-Essen, Prof. Dr. Hermann-Josef Wagner from the Ruhr University in Bochum and Manager of the Prosper-Haniel mine Jürgen Kroker. The Minister awarded a grant notification to the sum of 850,000 € from the federal government and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia for the second part of the study (Figure 1).

Prof. Niemann explained that the initial results were optimistic. “The coal mining industry has the infrastructure and expertise required for an underground pumped-storage reservoir,” emphasised Bernd Tönjes. The Mayor of Bottrop, Bernd Tischler, also added that a pumped-storage power station would dovetail extremely well with the Bottrop Innovation City project.

Thanks to the new grant notification, plans can now be drawn up for the specific suitability of Prosper-Haniel as an underground pumped-storage reservoir and framework conditions for its use. (RAG /Si.)