End of an era: Germany closes its last black coal mine

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press


Frank Jordans, Associated Press
Updated 12:22 pm CST, Friday, December 21, 2018

BERLIN (AP) — Straining to hold back tears, their once-white helmets and overalls smeared with dust, seven miners in Germany stepped out of a metal cage Friday bearing the last piece of black coal hauled up from 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) below.

The ceremony marked the end of an industry that laid the foundations for Germany's industrial revolution and its post-war economic recovery.

The men at the Prosper-Haniel mine symbolically handed the football-sized lump of coal to German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier with the words "Glueck Auf." The ancient miners' greeting roughly translates as "good luck," reflecting the uncertainty of a life spent prospecting deep underground.

"A piece of German history is coming to an end here," Steinmeier told the miners. "Without it, our entire country and its development over the past 200 years would have been unthinkable."

Read more: https://www.chron.com/business/technology/article/Germany-closes-last-of-black-coal-mines-that-13483042.php

[hlthe2b]

1. "black" coal mine--is there another kind?

Just curious...

[pecosbob]

3. Yes.

Black coal is bituminous coal. Just one of multiple types. They're all dirty as used for power generation. Some harder coal is used in steel production to make coke which is dirtiest stuff you have ever seen in your life..

[Mendocino]

6. The Koch brothers

produce coke around Zug Island Detroit. Smells of rotten eggs, sewage and rancid french fry grease.

[pecosbob]

7. I did subcontract concrete work at the League City, TX Union Carbide plant that processed the stuff

My vehicle would have a dusting of the stuff inside and out every day...don't think I ever got it out of the inside. Damned stuff is like a micro-powder.

[Mendocino]

8. I should add that

the Koch product is pet coke.

Is the micro-powder you mentioned more like fly ash? I knew a guy that worked at Bay Shore Plant near Toledo. His car ended up full of the stuff.

[pecosbob]

9. Behaved exactly like fly-ash

Glad I was there for no more than a couple of weeks.

[Eugene]

4. Germany still mines lots of brown coal (lignite).

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1127121584

Germany Bulldozes Old Villages For Coal Despite Lower Emissions Goals

https://www.npr.org/2018/08/06/635911260/germany-turns-to-brown-coal-to-fill-its-energy-gap

[NutmegYankee]

5. Another type, "brown coal" or lignite is more plentiful.

It didn't get as compressed and is usually found in large fields that allow open mining via pits.

[pecosbob]

2. Oorah

Lets hope no more miners have to go back down into those dark holes.