SURVEY OF BROWN COAL MINING AND PROCESSING IN GERMANY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700100281-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: R
• Document Page Count: 13
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 21, 2011
• Sequence Number: 281
• Publication Date: January 26, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/10/25: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700100281-7
CLASSIFIChii~i~f,CL y~~JR~IyFCUT3_r p~~
CENTRALS itJT~LLIutfVGERhu[N~C~Y
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RAUW BROADCASTS
REPORT
cD Ne.
DATE OF
COUNTRY Germany
SUBJECT Economic - Mining industry, brown coal
HOW
PUBLISHED Month~.y periodical
WHERE
PUBLISHED Duesseldorf
DATE
PUBLISHED Jan 1952
LANGUAGE Gercan
re .[ DxYrtD {rn[{~{. nx~x .?[vunxa olYn nc F?. ucn o?{IY
.x Drr o T.l Y. COOL. ? II x010. ?.? Y?{{I Y? Ox .[YI'
L.TID?+DI Ili [Dx r[.i{ r0 D? .l[[I.r LT ?x{DY1Yr?Dxl)[D .I.{Dx I[
DATE DIST. ~( Jan 1953
N0. OF PAGES 13
SUPPLEh1ENT TO
REPORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
Braunkohle, Waerme and Energie, Vol IV, No 1-2, 1952.
SURVEY OF BROWN COAL LflNING AND PROCESSING IN GERMANY
Heinrich Eirz
Dr ?of Engr
Cologne
LTables referred to are appended
ThP development of brown coal mining i.n the past 50 year-s has been charac-
terized main7;? by steady grovth. Up to the turn of the century, brown coal
mining was a ama;.l induetry, as opposed to the already greatly developed indus-
try of bituminous mining. At the beginning of the century, the sitti:tion changed,
as a result of the increased demand for brown coal pra:ucts and, consequently,
in their heightened market valve. New regions were opener in increasing numbers,
and in various axeas, existing works were enlarged and modernized. Esuecially
during the period since the end cf t,7er13 War I, .there began, along with the in-_
creasing demand for etude brown coal and brown ecal briquettes, a unique and
irregular development of brown coal technology, net only in respect to the pro-
ductiot, of brown coal in open-pit mines but also in respect to its use.
Because of insuf~icient dr17'ings, the estimates of brown coal reserves
have been incomplete and often have been increae?d after the opening of new
fields. Even today, it !s still impossible to secure a. clear picture of the
reserves in exiatenee.
1~#imates of the reserves exist for 1901, 192^c, and 1935. In 1901, tY.e
reserves of brc.ru coal were estimateA, at i0 billion tons. The estimate for
1922 gave the total as 22 billion tons, of which 10 billion tons were available
from open-pit mines and 12 billion toss from underground mining. Even these
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ARMY
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/10/25: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700100281-7
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reserre estimates were yell under the actual figures, as indicated by the sta-
tistics submitted by the Prussian Geological Institute, which completed an
inventory of the German reserves of brow coal 1n winter 1934 and spring 1935.
According to these figures, the known and probable reserves extractable at that
time amounted to about 57 billion tons, after deducting for mining losses (10
percent in. open-pit mines and 40 percent in underground mining) and quantities
lost thx?ough local conditions sad transport.
OP these, about 18 billion tons xere reported as extractable through open-
pit mines and about 39 billion tone through underground mining. These reserves
were distributed ae follow; Approximately 17.7 billion tons, or 31.3 percent,
in the Rhineland; 16.4 billion tone, or 28.8 percent, in the Lusatian provlncen
8.4 billion to e, or 14.8 percent, in the Hagdaburg_galls-Leipzig region; sad
tone, or 8.2 Percent, in East Germahy. The balance of 4.9 billion
Saxony, Hease,~and gav~~aPPortioned among the remaining districts of Lover
These estiuates yet also be considered outdated because of the drillings
vhich Nava since Seen carried out and the modern open-pit mining techniques
which alloy reserves aov to be xorked as open-pit mines which in 1935 still
had to be considered underground. This applies especially to the brow coal
area in the Rhineland. According to more recent information, the available
reserves in this region can be estimated to be at least 25 billion tone, but
because of insufficient drillings, a conclusive estimate of the reserves is
still not poaeibla.
On the basis of the fact that it is non possible to employ open-pit mining
up to as absolute depth of 200 meters (through both rook cover and coal seams),
according to the corresponding thickness of the deposits, the estimate of the
reserves available through open-pit m?.ning in the Rhineland district itt 1935
can be increased from 2.3 billion tone to 4.6 billion tone. by analogy, the
eeMmates of open-pit reserves and, because of lover mining losses is open-pit
workings, the estimates of the total reserves in the other brow coal mining
districts have increased.
can be~esured by the production in '.950, the supply from the brow coal mines
xpected to last from 300 to 350 years.
II. DEVELOPk7EERT OF :'RODUCTIOR
The center cf brow coal production hsa been and still is in t;~e region
surrounding the zits River and in the Rhineland.
Except for slight variations, brown coal production i.ncreaeed steadily
until 1943.
From about 15 millicn tone in 1885, it rose to about 40 million tone in
1900, 86 million tone in 1913 (see Table 1) sad reached, through almost unin-
terrupted increase, 174 million tens in 1929; by 1932, it sank to about 123
million tons, but Inter began to rise again, and during the war-- computed in
the 1937 boundaries __reached 253.4 million tons in 1943, the highest point
ever attained. OP the output in 1943, 80 millicn tuns were produced in the
present Federal Republic, In the last year of the war, ly(~4~ production sank
to about 230 millicn tone, and in 1945, it dropped to about .111 million tone,
its lowest point since 1920. After the effects of the var were overcome,, the
output again rose to about 176 million tone in 1948 an3 about 2ij million tons
~ 195G (+,he production figures of the Soviet Zoae since 1945 are merely con-
~ecture); this exceeded the production in 1938 by about 18 millicn tons. For
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/10/25: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700100281-7
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/10/25: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700100281-7
FtESTRI?7'ED
1951, an increase in output to about 221 million tons is expected. The share
of the Federal RePubli^- in the total 1950 production was 75.8 million tone,
~ 1951, this share rose to about 83.1 million tone.
5ltuminous coal production far surpassed brown coal production until 1921;
the situation changed after 1922, Except for s period from 1925 to 1927, brown
coal production took the lead and has retained it until the present time,
ductioa cametf~ oopen pitam nee and aboutt700percenttfrom/under~ coal pro-
The portion of the output from open-pit mines had already risen ~~out~70 g.
percent shortly before World War I, aad in 1943, only 5 percent still came
from underground mining, while 95 percent came from oper.-pit mines. Today, the
portion Pram underground mining is probably even smaller.
The increase in the amount ?of brown coal produced from open-pit mines was
togetherswith a strong con ntrationmofheperat onsla!g~-scale production methods,
mining of the deposits With almost no lone. ~ ncreased productivity, and
The number of workers and office employees engaged in brown coal mining
rose from 73,300 in 1914 to 109,200 in 1926, yell to 98,400 by 1938, and in-
crease. by 1943 to about 129,000 because of war requirements. In 1950, the
number oP employees was about 158,000. Of this number, about 121,000 were in
the Soviet Zone and about 37,000 in the Federal Republic.,
At the beginning of the century, open-pii mining, ao against underground
mining was considered economically feasible, if, for a deposit from 10 to 20
meters thick, the ratio of the rock covering to the coal we.e not morn than 1 to
1? Thanks to the devel~paant of minin6 ter_hnology, this :-atio has constantly
improved, Shortly before World War I, aad until its end, the economical mi-,ing
of brown Coal in open pits was et ill iirci.ted in deposits of tae above-mentioned
thickness to a ratio of covering rock to coal of ? to 1. To3sy, by excava!irg
awl using railroad care for hauling, it is possible to op=rate at a ratio Prom
5 and 6 to ]. end by using conveying bridges when the rock covering and structure
of the seams ia.favorablc at a ratio from 7 aad 8 to 1 and higher. At the end
of the war, an open-pit mine was being opened at Fuerstenberg (0~?er), where
deposits from 9 tc 10 meters thick are covered by o0 meters of rook. It wan to
be mined by using excavators o:~ tracks, Aa a matter of .fact, at ti.m4s, open-
oft minirg operation- have Seen carried o:~t profitably in Lauer Lusatia xith a
ratio of rock covering to coal of 8 to i at deposits from 10 to 12 maters.
Ia open-pit mining of bro:,n coal, the thickness of the uepoeit naturally
plays an important part, as does the a:.iual depth. In other words, a brown
coal deposit 20 meters thick can still 'be worked pro^itabJ.y by open-pit mining
filth a ratio oP rock to coal of 6 to 1, or 120 meters of ec-rering rock to 20
meters of coal. Thereby, the actual depth of the open pit is 140 meters. Tbis
is already the case at s fEw instalistion3 in central Germany, If, however,
a seam is, for exemple, 5o rasters think, then the open-pit mina, according to
a ratio of rock to coal of 5 tc 1, would reach a depth. of 300 meters. Despite
great progrees, open-pit min Leg techn~iogy has ::ot advanced far enough to make
coal mining at such depths profitable at the present-day prices of crude coal
and briquettes. However, the solution of this problem is of the greatest
importance for the mining of deep-lying coal, especially in the Rhineland District.
Rere, nex open-pit pro,jecta and mine^ which are at present being opened are t:o
ba mined with deposits from 50 to 80 meters thick and a rook covering of 120
meters and 1o7rr_,
-J-
RFSIFtI;.f'ED
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/10/25: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700100281-7
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/10/25: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700100281-7
?~_.x.r. ~~.,;
It is to. be hoped and expected that open-pit mining technology x111 further
develop so that the deposits xhich are still regarded as confined to underground
mining xith its high mining looses, con be worked by open-pit mining. Where the
limits of profitableness betxeen open-pit and underground mining x111 eventually
lie cannot conclusively be state3 nox, since it x111 vary a5 to location and
x311 depend on a variety of factors, especially on the pri^_e of the broxn coal
Products.
In accordance xith open-pit production and the incressed amount of rock
covering one ton of coal, the dross rock to be moved has also increased steadily,
In 1923 (the figures for previous years are not available), dross removal already
totaled 170 million cubic meters; in 1929, it vsa 244 million cubic meters; in
193$, ?25 million cubic meters; and in 1943, the year of the greatest output,
the production from open_pit mines of about 242 million tuns required dross re-
moval of Sit million cubic meters. Of that, 473 million cubic meters xere in
the central German region. Thus, xith an outavt from open_pit mines there of
et most 172 million tons, an average of 2,$ cubic meters of dross per ton of
coal produced required removal. In the Rhineland region, the ratio at that
time xas considerably more favorable is th1., respect and has remained so until
the present. With an open-pit production of 68.6 million Lone in 19!+3, the
dross removal amounted to about 40 million ~:ubic meters, xhich is equal to
about .5$ cubic meters per ton of coal produced.
From the above figures, it: i~ obvious that in og=n-pit mining the primary
problem concerns the extraction sad haulage of the dross, xhich in the central
German regions accounted for 70 percent of the total mining costa, However
in the Rhineland region also, the ratio of covering rock to coal in new open-
pit mines rill increase considerably in the future as compared to the present,
so that here, too, dross removal x111 4e the main element of operations.
creasedeeffScienoveorfa~oecsodemoval~s?hehamoiicrittopbthetdios~removal the in-
shift (including worksho
p personnel and `he like _ Per ~n
(for the Rhineland District, there are ro relati,eifituresenira~ German districts
cubic metsrs and increased suarply ton peak of 66.8 ~ b1^_)matere inxls F1 j0
Therea~cer, the output of dross per mansnlft decreased 9~
to about 61 c:ubtc meters; in the next 3 again4 in 1p39, was doves
meters; and in 1 4 ;,'ears, it remained a, about 59 cubic
9 3, because oP the wa??, it sank to almost 47 cubic meters.
The improvement of operations in *,he open-pit mining of broxn coal after
Wi .d War Z con beat be ~ea~ized by cersiderirg the iuczease in output per man
shift. I^ the open-p!t mines of the "ormer Deutsche Bratiakohlen-Industrle-
oerein e. V., with which all the broxn _ual cumpani