Site du Bois du Cazier

Identification

Facts

• The cages of the mining elevators were 12 m high, weighted empty 4.3 metric tons and had eight stories. Each story could hold one mining wagon.
• A mining wagon had a cubical content of 0.7 m³. This was equivalent to 1030 kg of coals or 1360 kg of stones.
• The deepest level of this mine was 1175 m.
• Top speed of the elevators was close to 17 m/s.
• The site occupies a total surface area of 0.26 km².
• In 1930 sixteen people lost their life in a gas explosion.
• In 1955 this colliery extracted 170 000 metric tons of coals. In this same year 725 people worked in the colliery.
• On August 8th 1956, 262 people lost their lives in a mining accident at this former colliery complex.
• Dutch photographer Kryn Taconis receives for his artistic pictures regarding this mining disaster in 1957 the price of Arts Directors in New York.
• After the disaster of 1956, full production started again from 1957 until 1963, when the capacity was reduced.
• Site du Bois du Cazier ceased to be a colliery and was closed on December 30th, 1967.
• The site was classed as a monument by the Walloon government on May 28, 1990.
• In 2002 this site was turned into a museum to commemorate the industrial past of Wallonia.