Maxstollen. Hesselzeche concession.

The discovery of calamine ores in a quarry between Nußloch and Wiesloch in 1845 prompted the Mannheim merchant Reinhardt and the Frankfurt banker A. Reinach to search for further deposits in the area. In February 1851, while sinking a shaft, miners accidentally came across late medieval workings. In the old tunnels, thousands of tons of loose calamine were found.

This discovery triggered a veritable mining boom in the Grand Duchy of Baden. Around Wiesloch, dozens of shafts up to 50 meters deep were sunk, and several calamine furnaces were built. On the grounds of the Trollburg, near the Maxstollen, a calamine furnace was erected in 1855.

During the 1850s, various private mining companies were founded. In 1853, banker Reinach sold his rights to the Belgian mining company Société Anonyme des Mines et Fonderies de Zinc de la Vieille Montagne. The company acquired two major concessions: Hesselzeche (with the Maxstollen) and Baiertal (with the Friedrichsstollen). The Altenberg Association (Vieille Montagne) focused primarily on the “Hessel” mining district between Nußloch and Wiesloch, where additional shaft furnaces were built.

Meanwhile, the Reinhardt family from Mannheim founded the Baden Zinc Company, later known as Stollenberger AG. The crown jewel of this enterprise was the Schafbuckel shaft Segen Gottes. Until 1864, the two companies together employed more than 400 workers and produced a total of over 100,000 tons of calamine.

Mining activities continued between the World Wars. New ore bodies were tapped, and the infrastructure was further expanded. In 1918, for example, the “Neue Friedrichsstollen” was driven as an access route to the mining reserves.

A remarkable document from this period is a color lithograph commissioned around 1855 by the Altenberg Association and created by the renowned landscape and architectural painter Alphonse Maugendre. It depicts the calamine furnace located on the site of today’s old lime kiln. The furnace had a capacity of about 10 tons per day and was supplied with calamine previously processed by drums, jigging machines, and wet trenches. The roasted ore was transported by cart to the railway station at St. Ilgen and then shipped by freight train to Flône, Belgium, where it was further refined into zinc.



When mining operations at the Hesselzeche ceased in 1893, the furnace was also shut down. It was likely converted into a lime kiln later that same year.

Text François Wouter VMHeritage. Main source: Ludwig Hildebrandt.

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