Lohmann field, Große Burg Mine, Altenseelbach, Neunkirchen, Siegen-Wittgenstein, Arnsberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germanyi

Regional Level Types
Lohmann field	Mine Zone (Built Over)
Große Burg Mine	Mine (Built Over)
Altenseelbach	Village
Neunkirchen	Town
Siegen-Wittgenstein	District
Arnsberg	Administrative District
North Rhine-Westphalia	State
Germany	Country

Section of the Große Burg Mine.

Translation of the German Wikipedia page (see link below):

The Lohmannsfeld mine was located in the Neunkirchen district of Altenseelbach in the Siegen-Wittgenstein district. Until 1917, it was the largest independent mine in the town, and along with the Große Burg mine, one of the largest mines in the Freien Grund region.

Veins and Ore Deposits

Three main veins contained mainly spar iron ore intergrown with quartz, galena, and sphalerite, with minor occurrences of chalcopyrite and pyrite. These veins were

the Mannseifer vein, 25 to 50 m long,
the Lohmann vein, 25–50 m long, and
the Wilhelmstrost vein, 20–45 m long.

In addition to the veins, the Junger Lohmann, Kreutzgang, and Kupfertrumm veins occurred as vein debris and were quite insignificant. 100 kg of mined lead ore contained an average of 30–108 g, rarely up to 150 g, of silver.

History

A Dillenburg mining company mined lead ore at the Middle Wilhelmstrost around 1700. Later, a consolidation of the Wilhelmstrost, Lohmann, and Mannseifen veins followed. The deep tunnel, called Wilhelmsgruß, was located in the Seelbach valley and had an underground depth of 83 m.

A blind shaft in the Middle Wilhelmstrost was sunk from 1860 to a depth of 137 m below the tunnel floor; it was equipped with an 8 hp steam engine, which was later replaced by a 30 hp engine. By 1885, the shaft had already reached a depth of 203 m, with levels already struck at 26, 52, 78, 100, 135, 160, and 200 m. At the same time, the Mannseifen shaft was sunk from above ground to a depth of 419 m. It was equipped with a 14-horsepower steam engine and three water-removal engines, two of which were 40-horsepower above ground and one 32-horsepower engine underground at a 125-metre level as a reserve. Production took place through the mine's deep tunnel. The total depth was 780 meters.

In 1885, the processing plant consisted of a steam engine, a water wheel, a stamp mill, a rolling mill, several separation drums and setting machines, as well as impact furnaces. There was also a repair shop and a laboratory for determining the metal content. In 1917, the Große Burg mines were merged from the Lohmannsfeld, Gute Hoffnung, and Silberart mines. In 1918, the German-Luxembourg Mining and Ironworks Company acquired the majority shareholding in the mine. Production ceased in 1948.

The mine's production barely increased with the general economic upturn. While 299 tons of lead ore were mined in 1859, by 1864 it had already risen to 549 tons, but a year later it had fallen back to 287 tons and by 1870 to only 166 tons. In addition to lead ore, approximately twice as much sphalerite was mined annually: 777 ton in 1863, 908 tons in 1864, and 762 tons in 1865. In contrast to lead ore production, sphalerite production declined from the 1870s to 1885 to 307 tons of zinc ore, while lead ore production remained at 342 tons and rose to 976 tons by 1894.

Iron ore mining was the most intensive at Lohmannsfeld, although iron was actually only a by-product here. It was first mentioned in statistics in 1863. In 1866, 2,628 t of spar iron ore were mined, and by 1885, production had risen to 3,470 t The highest production was in 1894, at around 11,000 t. In 1909 and 1910, there was little or no iron ore mining. In addition to lead, zinc, and iron ores, small amounts of copper ore were also mined; in 1885, the figure was 101 t. The total production of Lohmannsfeld was 223,486 t of iron ore.

Year production
1863 1,500 tons
1865 2,146 tons
1869 4,000 tons
1873 4,500 tons
1875 2,733 tons
1877 2,000 tons
1881 3,484 tons
1885 3,470 tons
1890 6,200 tons
1891 6,362 tons
1894 11,000 tons
1901 8,300 tons
1906 4,386 tons
1908 1,000 tons
1911 800 tons
1913 7,500 tons
1917 5,000 tons

Other Databases

Wikipedia:	https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohmannsfeld
Wikidata ID:	Q1868202

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References