| Founded: | 1811 |
| Defunct: | after 1895 |
| Hq Location Country: | Kingdom of Prussia |
| Owner: | Hugo Gutmann |
Szarlej Mine[1] (Szarley,[2])[3] was a zinc ore (calamine) mine[4] that operated in the area of present-day, a district of Piekary Śląskie in Poland.[5] It was established in 1811 and operated until around 1896. Until the mid-19th century, it was the largest and richest zinc ore mine in Upper Silesia (other significant mines of this type included Neue Helene and Cecylia). It was one of the largest calamine mines in Europe.
In the geological description of the Szarlej mine by Louis-Edouard Rivot and Lejeune, two layers were identified: white and red. Their distribution, starting from the surface, was as follows:
The main minerals extracted from the Szarlej mine were primarily white calamine (with a zinc content of up to 23–27%) and red calamine, zinc blende, and dolomite. Smithsonite, pyromorphite, gypsum, and an unusual brownish-red hemimorphite were also found.[6] Calamine, zinc blende, and galena were found in numerous fractures in the dolomite, giving it a brecciated appearance.[7]
Samples of rocks from the Szarlej mine, such as red calamine, white calamine, and dolomite, were exhibited in the Zollverein section at the International Exhibition in London in 1862. Rocks from the Szarlej mine (as well as from nearby mines like Bleischarley and Neue Helene) were also displayed at the World's Fair in Vienna in 1873.
The chemical analysis of a sample of white calamine from Szarlej, conducted by Karsten before 1827, revealed the following approximate composition:
| Substance name | Percentage content (%) | |
|---|---|---|
| Zinc oxide | 56.33 | |
| Carbonic acid | 30.71 | |
| Silicon dioxide | 9.36 | |
| Iron oxide | 1.85 | |
| Water | 0.57 | |
| Manganese oxide | 0.50 | |
| Cadmium oxide | 0.25 | |
| Calcium oxide | 0.10 | |
| Total | 99.67 |
| Substance name | Percentage content (%) | |
|---|---|---|
| Zinc oxide | 44.50 | |
| Carbonic acid | 27.41 | |
| Iron oxide | 13.25 | |
| Water | 3.64 | |
| Aluminum trioxide | 3.58 | |
| Lower oxidation state iron oxide[8] | 3.27 | |
| Manganese oxide | 1.66 | |
| Silicon dioxide | 0.66 | |
| Total | 97.97 |
The history of ore mining in the Szarlej area dates back to the 13th century, around 1230. Mining intensified from the 16th century onwards. Lead ore in the form of galena, which lay above calamine deposits, was mined several hundred years before the establishment of the Szarlej mine.[9] In 1670, explored calamine deposits in Upper and Lower Silesia, finding them in Szarlej,, and Danielce (Radzionków). In 1701, he began calamine extraction in Szarlej and obtained a concession from Emperor Leopold I in 1704 for its mining; his mines in Szarlej annually extracted from 450 to 500 tons of calamine.
In 1788, the Dębówka mine was established, and in the 1790s, the Jenny and Otto mines were opened. From 1810 to 1818, the Sigismund zinc smelter operated in Szarlej, the third zinc smelter in Upper Silesia after the Wessola smelter in Wesoła and Lydognia in Chorzów, equipped with 10 distillation furnaces[10] and owned by Georg von Giesches Erben. In 1813, another smelter, Concordia, was established near the calamine mines. The first steam engine in Szarlej was installed in 1814.
The mine was established in 1811 by the company . From 1811 to 1812, this enterprise obtained mining grants for the mines: Sucha Góra, Schoris, Gabe Gottes, Georgssegen, and Szarlej (according to other sources, the founders were the Donnersmarcks, while wrote that Baildon, together with Prince Kraft zu Hohenlohe-Oehringen, obtained the mining grant for the 'Neue Helene' and 'Szarlej' mines).[11] The grants for the Szarlej mine were issued on August 5 and September 2, 1811. The mine was established, demarcated, and prepared for mining exploitation in 1812 (according to Roman Majorczyk, the mine was established in the 18th century by Georg von Giesche; miners brought from Olkusz were supposed to work there, but Giesche actually founded the Jerzy and Bernard mines; according to another source, the mine was established around 1743).
The mining field of the Szarlej mine covered 175,318 m2 (according to another source, 380,991 m2). Extraction was conducted by the open-pit method by creating fluvial terraces. The deposit lay at a depth of about 1 to 4 lachters below the surface (about 2 to 8 meters); extraction was carried out in two open pits : eastern and western, with the depth of the pits reaching 31 and 33 m before 1849. The higher quality ore (so-called stückgalmei and lead minerals) was transported to the surface in wheelbarrows by women and then piled near the road running from Bytom to Piekary Śląskie. Contaminated and clay-mixed material was directed to limestone settlers, where it was mixed with water and separated using the sedimentation process. Initially, open-pit mining involved deposits located above the groundwater level and was very limited. With descent below this level, there was a problem with a very strong inflow of water, so in 1814, a low-pressure steam drainage machine was installed.
Due to the inflow of groundwater, underground mining was also conducted (before 1853, the Erbreich shaft was sunk) using the room-and-pillar system, with a shaft depth of 8 to 12 lachters (about 16 to 24 m), and the shaft field it served was about 20 to 25 lachters long (about 40 to 50 m, data from around 1859). Around the mid-19th century, the shaft hoist consisted of two cages operated by a steam hoisting engine with a power of 6 horses, with a work efficiency of 200 hoisted carts in 10 hours. The ore in carts with a load capacity of 300 kg was transported on rails to a large washing plant, established by Rudolf von Carnall, located over 1,200 m away from the mining site. This section was divided into three 400-meter parts, within which young boys working 8 hours a day pushed full and empty carts.
In 1816, the galman (zinc ore) production at the Szarlej mine amounted to 45,747 hundredweights (approximately 2,353.55 tons), with a production cost of 3 groszy and pfennigs. Until 1821, annual production did not exceed 100,000 hundredweights. In 1847, Count Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck held of shares in the Szarlej mine, and Hugo Henckel von Donnersmarck had an equal share. The company Georg von Giesches Erben owned 57 kuks, and parts also belonged to the Schaffgotsch family and Karl Godulla.[12] John Baildon acquired shares in the mine between 1820 and 1826.
In 1821, two additional mining field grants were obtained, and continuous extraction was conducted from 1822 to at least 1848, with another grant received in 1825.
From 1822 to 1823, the annual production of galman was between 180,000 and 200,000 quintals (in 1823, 276,195 hundredweights of ore were extracted). The average cost of obtaining one quintal was 2 groszy, and it was sold for further processing at 10 groszy, generating significant profit, amounting to over 3 million thalers in 1823. An official of the mine, Artur Miller, wrote:
The business was excellent [...] Galman was in high demand, fetching a good number of thalers. A large portion of the zinc, smelted in the Piekary foundries owned by the same owners as the mines, was loaded onto carts and transported to the Oder river, from where it went to Szczecin, and then further to Sweden, Denmark, America, and India. A large portion was used within Germany.In 1828, due to a decline in zinc prices, the mine reduced its workforce to a quarter of its original size, and employees' wages were halved. The first high-pressure steam drainage machine was installed in the mine in 1834, and the first mechanical washing plant was built in the 1840s. Until the 1830s, the mine supplied more galman than all the others in the region. Until 1845, it was the most profitable galman mine (in 1845, the mine provided a profit of 3,086,760 thalers), contributing 66.3% of the overall income from galman mines in the region, and the mine's shares were sold at very high prices. Previously unexplored galena was also encountered. In 1853, lead ore extraction in Szarlej amounted to 22.5% of the region's extraction, second only to the Fryderyk mine. The first million hundredweights were extracted in 1856. In 1858, the Szarlej mine extracted 1,090,733 hundredweights of galman with 997 employees.[13] Annual galman extraction reached up to 1.5 million hundredweights (about 77,000 tons). The ore from the mine was sent to the Paulshütte smelter near Mysłowice.
The following description of the mine has been preserved:[14]
Here is the famous Szarlej mine, which we will reach after a short walk between tall chimneys and machine factories, to this enormous fissure that human hands have dug into the earth. A long, irregular, funnel-like artificially created valley lies 100 feet below us. On one side it is covered with dead stone gravel, while on the other side it slopes down in terraces and is covered with a throng of industriously bustling workers, whose pickaxes swing and throw cut chunks down, where horses pull wagons loaded with ore on tracks into the dark mine, from which the ore is lifted to the surface using machines via a shaft.Meanwhile, in 1856, referred to Szarlej as a famous place for machinery and galman and lead mines.[15]
On 2 November 1864, a mudflow occurred in the Szarlej and Wilhelmine mines, resulting in the deaths of 14 people.[16]
In the 1840s, drainage of the workings was achieved using three steam engines with a combined power of 54 horsepower, pumping water from a depth of 40 m. Around 1845, the mine employed approximately 500 people and extracted 527,931 hundredweights of galman. The Silesian Joint Stock Company for Mining and Metallurgy, established in 1853, acquired shares in the mine in the 1850s.
On 14 February 1855, the neighboring mines Szarlej, Wilhelmine, Cecylia, and Neue Helene founded the Szarlej Underground Construction Society .[17] The main tasks of the society were dewatering the workings located in the Szarlej basin and preventing surface water from entering the workings. A new agreement was adopted on 23 May 1865.
Until 1857, the project manager was mining master Carl Schmidt, representing the Wilhelmine and Cecylia mines. To achieve the first goal, five steam pumps with a total capacity of 79.29 m3/min were used – three drainage machines at the drainage shafts: Schmidt I (sinking began in 1855, drainage machine put into use in 1858, in 1859 riveted pipes made of NaNinches thick boiler plate with a diameter of were installed)[18] and II (sunk in 1860, the first steam machine started in 1863, the second in 1869), and two at the Scherbening shaft (the first machine, which worked in the Woolf system, was installed in 1875). The shafts were 84 m deep and reached the 4th level, but the Neue Helene and Cecylia mines had a fifth level, 16 m deeper than the fourth, reached by the Christian-Krafft (from the Neue Helene mine) and Clotilde (from the Cecylia mine) shafts. Water from the 5th level to the 4th level was pumped out by the drainage machines at these shafts. Additionally, the Szarlej mine had the Georg and Edeler machine drainage shafts.
Divers equipped with English breathing apparatus suits (air was supplied directly to the suit through a hose from a pump), which were preferred over the newer breathing apparatus of Auguste Denayrouze and Benoît Rouquayrol due to headaches experienced with their use, were used for work in the flooded areas.
To prevent floods, the Brynica river was regulated, a flood embankment was built, and an underground flood control channel was constructed.
The Silesian Joint Stock Company for Mining and Metallurgical Operations, founded by Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck in 1853, became a co-owner of the mine,[19] with most shares belonging to the princes of Hohenlohe.In 1861, a new washing plant was built for the mine, equipped with two boilers from the C. Hoppe plant in Berlin; in 1863, a third boiler from H. Koetz in Zabrze was added (in 1888, the washing plant was purchased by the Jenny Otto zinc and lead ore mine from).
The main building of the washing plant had an area of and housed a processing plant for lead ore (which occurred in small concentrations together with dolomite and galman) and galman. The galman washing plant was equipped with a high-pressure steam engine. The second building had an area of and contained lead ore and galman sludge processing plants and a boiler room. Near the washing plant were two settlers, one for lead sludge and the other for galman sludge.
Around 1870, the richest exploited deposit of calamine was largely depleted, with the pure zinc content in the ore dropping from 30% to about 12%, similar to the situation in the Maria mine. Later, calamine was recovered from the old dumps of the Szarlej mine. Due to favorable economic conditions,[20] a new miners' lead ore mine, Friedrich Wilhelm, was opened next to this mine in 1858.
On 12 April 1875, one of the three drainage machines belonging to the society suddenly stopped working. The cause of the accident might have been a failure of the pressure valve. The incident was serious because the remaining two machines were unable to pump out enough incoming water. Two divers, Upper Silesians Wrona and Bulla, conducted repairs for several days. Wrona spent a total of 16 hours underwater, and Bulla 10 hours, with the work being carried out without lighting.[21]
Due to the gradual depletion of the Szarlej mine's resources, the company Georg von Giesches Erben acquired the consolidated Bleischarley mine (including the Gute Concordia, Neue Euridice, and Solfatara mines) from Count Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck: the first half in 1858 (or in 1860),[22] and the second in 1868.
In the second half of the 19th century, the co-owner of the mine was the Silesian Joint Stock Company for Mining and Metallurgical Operations, which in 1885 held shares amounting to kuks. At that time, the company also operated an iron(II) disulfide (in the form of pyrite or marcasite) mine called Nix, in which the Silesian Joint Stock Company had a 25% stake. In 1887, the Szarlej mine ceased ore extraction and instead turned to the material lying on old dumps, which caused a one-time increase in the plant's production.
The mine continued operations at least until 1894,[23] with 7,500 tons of calamine reported in 1896.[24]
The area of the former mine was considered as a possible site for the construction of the . Borrow pits were eliminated by filling them with metallurgical waste, and the site of the mining plant was referred to by locals as Rozciep.[25]
In the Pleistocene sediments, mammal remains have been preserved. Around 1854, the bones of a woolly mammoth, Przewalski's horse, and a damaged horn, probably belonging to an aurochs, were found on the Szarlej mine site.
Before 1829, a human skeleton was discovered in a shaft at a depth from 8 to 9 fathoms[26] (about 16–18 meters). One of the broken bones revealed the presence of blue vivianite crystals inside.[27] When the femur was sawed through, internal crystallization was also observed,[28] as well as on the surface of the cut, indicating that vivianite had formed within the bone mass. Vivianite could have formed due to the presence of phosphoric acid precipitated from the bone. Taube speculated that the skeleton, possibly belonging to a miner, might have lain underground for around 300 years. It might have come from earlier lead ore mining activities in the area. However, the exact age of the remains is not known. It is possible that the shaft, dug in search of calamine, was flooded, in which case the bones would not have been several hundred years old at the time of discovery.
The work system at the mine operated in two shifts: the first shift worked from 6 AM to 6 PM, and the second from 6 PM to 6 AM. The miners' wages were insufficient to meet basic needs, but workers received part of their earnings in the form of vouchers. The working conditions are illustrated by the experiences of Polish crew members: Józef Duda requested leave to bandage a cut hand. He was not granted permission to leave his post and died a few days later due to infection. Meanwhile, workers Wanot and Franiel were dismissed for bringing a copy of the newspaper to work, and Cieśla and Poczek, who also brought a Polish newspaper, were reassigned to lower-paying jobs.
On 14 July 1873, miners began a sit-in strike to protest low wages. The starosta of Bytom, Solger, came to negotiate with the workers. Clashes with Prussian police and military ensued, resulting in the deaths of nine miners. The strike ended after five days. The Criminal Chamber in Bytom sentenced three strikers, Markiewka, Pyrkosz, and Rabsztyn, to 12 months of imprisonment. However, the strike achieved wage increases and reduced working hours for juveniles and women by one hour.
The mining industry also spurred the development of Szarlej itself. Lucjan Malinowski wrote in 1877: In Szarlej (calamine mines) there is gas lighting, perhaps even better than in Warsaw.[29]
