At the beginning of the twentieth century, exploratory drilling was carried out at various locations in this area. It soon became apparent that there was an abundant presence of coal in the soil. A few years later, a concession was granted for the exploitation of an area of over 5,000 hectares. Partly due to the First World War, it was not until the early 1920s that coal was actually mined. During the peak year, in the mid-1950s, 6,800 miners brought up nearly 800,000 tonnes of coal. Over the course of operations, a total of nearly 80 million tonnes of coal were mined. Although only a small portion of the coal seams was exploited, the mine ceased operations in the late 1980s.
In this building, the coal screening and washing plant, the main above-ground mining activity was carried out: sorting the coal from the rubble and washing the coal for sale. The building was erected in the early 1920s and was expanded several times, until it had a daily capacity of 7,500 tonnes. The ten-story, monolithic coal washing plant is one of the few preserved examples in Western Europe. For this reason, it was protected as a monument. However, this is contested by the owner, who has already made several attempts to obtain a permit to demolish the building, which, fortunately, he has not yet succeeded in doing...
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