URANIUM MINE OFFICE [BG]

Exploration #281. This article shows the former headquarters of a state company that managed uranium mining across Bulgaria from 1945 to 1992. The abandoned offices, built in the 1960s, once coordinated a strategic industry central to Cold War geopolitics, before being deserted after the sector’s collapse.

Following the discovery of uranium deposits near Sofia before World War II, mining activity expanded rapidly under Soviet influence. After the war, a joint Soviet-Bulgarian mining structure was established, supported by hundreds of Soviet engineers. Uranium extracted from local mines was transported to the USSR and became a key resource for early nuclear research, including reactors and possibly atomic weapons. The headquarters later became part of the “Redki Metali” (Rare Metals) organization, which employed around 13,000 workers at its peak and oversaw uranium extraction nationwide. Mining operations were intensive and continuous, often carried out manually and under hazardous conditions, with little protection for workers exposed to radiation.

The industry declined after the fall of communism. In 1991, the centralized system fragmented into smaller entities, and by 1992 the Bulgarian government officially ended uranium mining. Administrative buildings, including this headquarters, were abandoned as the entire sector shut down. Beyond its industrial role, the site is tied to long-term environmental consequences. Decades of extraction and processing contaminated soil and water, with restrictions on agriculture already imposed in the 1980s. Even after closure and rehabilitation efforts, radioactive dust and pollution remain persistent issues in the surrounding region.

ZECHE FARMER [DE]

Exploration #275 Zeche Farmer. Zeche Farmer is a former coal mine shaft located in the Saarland region of Germany. Like many other mining sites in this area, it was shut down following the steady decline in coal demand, which made extraction economically unsustainable. After its closure, the site was gradually abandoned and left without protection.

Over time, it suffered from looting and the destruction of its machinery, a fate shared by many industrial structures that lose their original function. The absence of conservation measures accelerated its physical decay, erasing much of the technical heritage that once defined the site.

Today, Zeche Farmer survives in a marginal and improvised form: parts of the former mining complex are used as storage space by local farmers. While this new use has little to do with its industrial past, it represents a pragmatic form of reuse and highlights the complex afterlife of industrial landscapes in post-mining regions..

CHARBONNAGE DE FORTE-TAILLE [BE]

Exploration #245 Charbonnage de Forte-taille. The “Charbonnage de Forte-taille” was an old coal mine in Montigny-le-Tilleul, Belgium.

Coal was mined there as early as 1755, through shallow tunnels or by exploiting deposits on the ground. In 1865, a concession was granted to excavate the first deep coal mine, accessible via the shaft called Avenir1, at that time one of the deepest in Europe. Ten years later, in 1875, the SA Franco-Belge du charbonnage de Forte-Taille was founded, which exploited the deposit until its closure in 1935. The closure of the mine was also due to many accidents that led to the deaths of many miners.

The land and buildings were more used as storage by a neighboring company and then used as a deposit for unauthorized waste. In 2002, the head frames were demolished and the area cleared of unauthorized waste. Since then it has been in a new state of neglect.

LA CAVA DI TRUCAZZANO [IT]

Exploration #237 Cava di Trucazzano. This quarry extracted sand and gravel from a nearby pond, probably formed as a result of the extraction activity. The facility consisted of a series of belts and sieves that had the task of separating the extracted material into different sizes. The structures were all demolished at the end of 2022.

ORANGE MINE [IT]

Exploration #233 The orange mine. This small washery processed galena from a nearby mine, producing silver and lead. The area was known for its richness in iron ore since ancient times, in fact much of the slag found in the area leads one to believe that the Etruscans were already forging their weapons here. The minerals extracted from these areas were of such excellent quality that they were used to build parts of Italian nuclear power plants.

As a result of the depletion of the deposits and increasingly high extraction costs, mining activities slowly declined from the 1970s onwards.

If you enjoyed this article, you can also have a look at these other mines: Mina Petrila, Miniera rossa.

MAGNESIA SPA [IT]

Exploration #214 Magnesia spa. Quarrying was present in this area since the beginning of the 20th century, when two ovens were built for the production of dolomitic lime. Through the English Pattinson process, light magnesium carbonates were produced, which were suitable for incorporating a lot of air in the application and thus promoting thermal insulation (asbestos was used as a binder). Initially 20 employees were employed, which became several dozen in the following years.

In the 1920s, the production of calcium carbonate was also undertaken, initially by purchasing limestone as a raw material and later by introducing limestone calcining within the factory. In the 1950s, Magnesia spa also experimented with the direct sale of purgative magnesia to pharmacies. However, this route was not taken for a long time and it was preferred to produce the active ingredient, magnesium hydroxide, for specific companies in the sector.

The seventies and eighties were a period of strong development for the company, which underwent major plant renovations. Notable is the research for the development and market introduction of new types of calcium carbonates, in particular ultra-fine coated ones. In the early 1990s, Magnesia Spa was sold to the Belgian multinational Solvay, which closed the plant in 2008.

You could also check my report of another similar factory: the abandoned Magnesitwerk Aken.

THE BLUE WONDER [DE]

Exploration #133. The blue wonder, aka excavator number 1473 (Bagger 1473), designation “SRs 1500”, is a bucket wheel excavator that was manufactured in 1964 in the former DDR by VEB Schwermaschinenbau Lauchhammerwerk and was in use until 2002. Due to its blue colouring, the bucket wheel excavator is also commonly called “the Blue Wonder”. Bagger 1473 is often misidentified as Bagger 258 because of a marking found on its information plate.

Bagger 1473 technical data

The blue wonder had an output of 5555 kW in operation and was supplied with a 6 kV power cable 3×185/3×16.7 mm. In total, the bucket wheel excavator is about 50 metres high and about 172 metres long. The six-section crawler chassis, with a maximum travel speed of 6 metres per minute, carries the total mass of 3850 tonnes. With 10 buckets of 1.5 cubic metres each and 57 pours per minute (known as the pour rate), the excavator achieves a theoretical mining capacity of 5130 cubic metres per hour. The bucket wheel diameter is 12.5 metres and the cutting speed is 3.73 metres per second. The design of the wheel boom with a length of 67 metres enables a removal height of up to 35 metres and a removal depth of up to 15 metres. The SRs 1500 excavator 1473 was the prototype. With the experience gained in planning, assembly and operation, the basis was created for building even larger, more powerful excavators.

The Blue Wonder History

In 1964, the bucket-wheel excavator was installed in the Meuro open-cast mine and subsequently used to remove the overburden until coal mining ceased there in 1999. Between 1999 and 2002, it was still used for recultivation in the former Meuro opencast mine and was then to be scrapped. However, the cities of Senftenberg and Großräschen and the municipality of Schipkau wanted to preserve the excavator and successfully lobbied for it to be taken over. At the beginning of 2019, it became known that the bucket wheel excavator was to be scrapped. After numerous citizens, including former miners, expressed their displeasure at the plans, the Brandenburg State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments became aware of the planned scrapping and placed the excavator on the official list of monuments. The municipalities have anyway announced that they would apply to have the blue wonder removed from the list.

(source: Wikipedia. More info: http://www.tagebau-espenhain.de/Landmarke-Bagger-1473-SRs-1500-VR/)

SLATE FACTORY [BE]

Exploration #127 Slate factory. These machineries belonged to an abandoned slate factory and quarry in a small village in Belgium, in a area where the slate deposits has been known since the 16th century. This mine opened its door at the end of 19th century. Mine started open-pit and in 1918 went underground. The 170 meter deep quarry produced more than a million slates a year. The slate from this mine were dark gray, homogeneous and from extremely good quality. It was mainly used to make rooftiles.

In 1995 the mine closed and from then it stayed abandoned. Most of the buildings have been demolished and the terrain cleaned up. Luckily this building is still standing and luckily it will be preserved because it’s historical heritage.

EX CAVA DI ALPETTO [IT]

Exploration #114. These buildings housed the machinery for grinding the rock from the adjacent quarry. The raw material was then sent by ropeway to the cement factory.

The site had a very ancient history: quarries already existed in this area at the beginning of the 20th century, but it is from the 1930s that a large cement factory was born and began to exploit these rocks. A significant amount of cement used to build modern Milan came from that very plant. The quarry was exploited until the beginning of the 2000s after which, due to both the exhaustion of the material and the cement crisis, it was closed.

The factory, which still exists today but no longer produces cement, is located a few kilometres downstream and was connected to the quarry by a cable car. This facility was at the time the longest cableway for industrial use in Italy and, after it had become a characteristic element of the landscape and an attempt was made to save it as industrial heritage, it was unfortunately dismantled.
These we see were the material crushing buildings and the departure station of the cableway. To date, many projects for the recovery of the area have been presented whereas other projects for the maintenance of the vegetation, for the conservation, renewal and qualification of the environment were started from the same property over the years. However, this place can no longer go back to the way it was before human intervention but has now become part of the landscape with its unique beauty.

MINIERA ROSSA [IT]

Exploration #111. In the past this area was home to many mines, almost all of them for the extraction of iron. This mine, on the other hand, exploited important silver veins, already from the XV century. The activity flourishes for many years but towards the end of 1800 due to the scarcity of the material and to the lack of investments in machinery and extraction techniques there was a progressive decrease in production until its closure in 1904.

The rebirth began in 1935, when a new company interested in fluorite extraction took possession of the mine. The structures and machinery underwent a major modernization and already in 1939 about three thousand tons of fluorite were produced per year, the largest production in Italy. The demand for material was very high, many orders came directly from the Government of the United States of America and the mine ensured work and economic security for all the inhabitants of the surrounding area.

Unfortunately, the period of glory was not so long and already in the 1970s, as demand decreased, several changes of ownership began, and some workers were laid off. The excavation activity continued for some time, between interruptions and resumption, until the definitive closure in 1999. Since then the mine has been abandoned. Inside the mine there are still all the machinery for processing raw ore, while the external structure of plate and cement is now part of the landscape of the valley.