Coal mines

The Borinage must once have had the densest railway network in the world, and that was due to the large concentration of coal mines in the region.

To export the millions of tons of coal produced in one of the seven Limburg mines, a coal railway line zigzagged from one coal mine to another.

When Limburg became the El Dorado of Belgium at the beginning of the 20th century, coal mines sprang up like mushrooms. In their wake, garden suburbs and engineers' and directors' homes were built.

At the place where the Leuven professor of geology and mining, André Dumont dug up the Limburg soil from 1901 to find coal, a monument commemorates his find.

The monumental coal preparation plant of Beringen is the showcase of the Beringen coal mine. Yet the four wings of the complex were threatened with demolition for years. However, in 2023, the be-NATURE project was given the green light.

A Monnoyer-type water tower stands in the shadow of the headframe and compressor building of the Helchteren-Zolder mine.

On the eve of the reconversion of the ruins of the Hasard coal mine in Cheratte near Liège, the imposing concrete headframe was demolished.

In Pontypridd, in the heart of the Welsh coalfield, is Hetty Shaft, one of the three mining seats that was founded by the Great Western Colliery Company.