Oranje Nassau I

CBS weg
Heerlen

Plan your itinerary

Mining in the Netherlands got off to a relatively late start. Countries such as Belgium and Germany already had a flourishing coal industry when, around 1850, attention shifted to the Netherlands.

Demand for coal soared and new mines were necessary to meet the demand. After 1850 the first test drillings were made for coal in South Limburg, but it took until the beginning of 1900 for the first Limburg coal

was brought to the ground.

A consortium led by Mr HLCH Sarolea was granted a concession by Royal Decree of 2 May 1893 under the name Oranje-Nassau for the extraction of coal in an area of almost 3,400 hectares in Heerlen and Schaesberg.

The concession was transferred to the NV Maatschappij tot Exploitatie van Limburgsche Steenkolenmijnen. Henri Sarolea was looking for co-financiers to realize his plans. The German brothers Carl and Friedrich Honigmann had been active investors in the mining industry for many years and they were willing to put money into the venture.

The initial capital amounted to 1.5 million guilders divided over 1,500 shares of 1,000 guilders each. The Honigmann brothers had a clear majority stake with 1,370 shares. Sarolea owned ten shares and the remaining 120 shares were held by two other financiers.

The opening of a railway in 1896 between Sittard and Herzogenrath, just across the border in Germany, opened up the new mining area. The coal could now be transported to customers by rail in large quantities and at acceptable transport costs.

In 1896, construction of two shafts was started at the new Oranje-Nassau I mining site. The first coal was mined in 1899. In 1905 the construction of a third shaft was started, which was put into use in 1912.

For Oranje-Nassau II, the construction of two shafts was started in 1898, which were put into operation in 1902 and 1904. It lasted until 1912 until the construction of a shaft for Oranje-Nassau III was started. This mine started production in 1917.

Construction of a ventilation shaft for Oranje-Nassau III was started in 1910, but later the plans were expanded and finally the Oranje-Nassau IV mine was put into operation in 1928. This was the smallest of the four Oranje-Nassau mines.

After the deaths of Sarolea (in 1900) and Carl Honigmann (in 1903), in 1908 the Company was sold by Friedrich Honigmann to the French company Les-Petits Fils de François de Wendel & Cie based in Paris. The De Wendel family had built up many interests in the iron and steel industry in Lorraine since the early eighteenth century.

A lot of coke was used in the manufacture and De Wendel was dependent on German producers who had united in 1896 in a cartel.

In the sixties the mines became less and less profitable, this was caused by the import of cheaper coal from abroad. Under the Den Uyl Cabinet, therefore, coal mining came to an end in 1974. The rapid exploitation of natural gas in Groningen made the need for an own coal industry less necessary.

This text has been automatically translated using an online translation service.

Itineraries in the area

Interesting in this area!

Change cookie settings

Cookies are small files of information stored by your browser on your computer whenever you visit a website, and that are used, for example, to remember your personal preferences. They provide us with information about how you use our website. We can then continue to improve the website and make it even easier for you to discover Zuid-Limburg.

You can change your cookie settings at any time by changing the settings here or by (locally) deleting the cookies.

Save settings

A fun trip for everyone

Visit Zuid-Limburg Shops

Oranje Nassau I

Itineraries in the area

Interesting in this area!

Oranje Nassau I

Itineraries in the area

Interesting in this area!

Welcome to Zuid-Limburg!

Change cookie settings

Functional cookies

Analytical cookies

Marketing cookies

Personalisation