The Beringen coal preparation plant, 2009The Beringen coal washery behind the central offices
The Beringen coal preparation plant is a part of the former Beringen coal mine, which is located in Beringen in the Belgianprovince of Limburg. Since 1994, the building has been selected and protected as mining heritage by the Flemish government, and is planned to be reused as part of the Flemish Mining Museum. The mining site of Beringen was one of the Belgian anchor points of the ERIH (European Route of Industrial Heritage).[1] A coal preparation plant (Dutch: Kolenwasserij, French: Triage-Lavoir) separates the usable coal from the waste rock. This coal preparation plant is one of the biggest and last vast examples of the Belgian coal industry.[2]
After its excavation, the coal has to be sorted out from the waste rock before being sold. This task became, except from digging, one of the main activities of a colliery. In Beringen the coal preparation plant started operation in September 1924, two years after the mine itself went into production. Since then the capacity of coal preparation was expanded several times, and finally reached a production of 7,500 tonnes a day,[3] 20 times the equivalent of the coal preparation plant of the Blegny-Trembleur mine in Wallonia.[4]
Reclamation
In 1989, when the mine closed, this building was about to be torn down as it seemed too big for adaptive reuse. Furthermore, its structure contains plenty of reusable valuable metals. Therefore, it is a quite difficult task to find a suitable adaptive reuse for coal washery plants. This is the very reason why there are not many coal preparation plants left on the sites of former European collieries.
This building was selected and protected by Flemish minister Johan Sauwens in 1994, and was redesignated as a mining monument within the Flemish Mining Museum.[5] In August 2010, the Flemish government handed out 1.39 million euros for the restoration of that building, which will become one of the strengths of the ERIH.[6]
Nevertheless, in the spring of 2013, the owner applied to the Flemish government to abolish the plant. However, under an international outcry from heritage organizations, the Ministry cabinet of Geert Bourgeois decided in July, not only on its conservation, but also on the restoration of the building. Therefore, a fund of 15.9 million euros was offered. By this move, only several little parts of the coal washery, which have been added recently, can be demolished.[7]
International value
As mentioned above, since coal preparation plants are often the first to be demolished after a mine closure, there are not much of them left in Western Europe. Therefore, the site of the former coal mine of Beringen is one of the happy few within the ERIH-network.[8]
The building stile of this plant is monolithic. It is a ten-story building, raised in metal with walls consisting of two bays in glass interspersed by a bay in brick masonry. It has been built upon palisades above railways in order to load the coal.[9]
Popular culture
The theme of the Beringen coal preparation plant has already been picked up by two international nominated photographers:
Danny Veys COALFACE gallery, ‘Triage de Beeringen’, 12 June – 3 September 2008.[10]
Jonny Vekemans, Japan (Iwamizawa Coal Mine Heritage Management Center) ‘Het licht is uit‘, 16 June – 29 July 2013.[11]
Beringen is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. The Beringen municipality includes the town of Beringen proper and the old communes of Beverlo, Koersel, and Paal.
Beschermd erfgoed is the official term to describe Flemish National Heritage Sites listed by law to protect and spread awareness of Belgian cultural heritage, specifically in Flanders. The term is also used nationwide to refer to national heritage sites. Because Belgium is officially a tri-lingual country, the other nationwide terms used in the rest of the country are the French term Bien classé and the German term Kulturdenkmal.
The Flanders Heritage Agency is a cultural heritage agency sponsored by the Flemish Government. The organisation is split into four subdivisions; the former VIOE, which inventories Beschermd erfgoed in the Flemish Region; the agency "Ruimte en Erfgoed" which executes policy on heritage management and protection; the Ministry department of Town and County Planning, Housing Policy and Immovable Heritage, or Ruimtelijke Ordening, Woonbeleid en Onroerend Erfgoed (RWO), which supports the Minister of Culture on policy decisions; and Inspectie RWO, which is the inspection arm of the RWO.
The church of Our Lady, Melsele is a Roman Catholic parish church in Melsele, in the commune of Beveren, in East Flanders, Belgium. It is a registered heritage site.
↑ In Belgium there are only three coal preparation plants left; the one of the coal mine of Beringen, Blegny and Binche.
↑ Bert Van Doorslaer, Koolputterserfgoed: een bovengrondse toekomst voor een ondergronds verleden (Coal Mining Heritage: a Topsoil Future for a Subsoil History), p.104.
↑ E. Leunen, NV MIJNEN: Het beschermd mijnpatrimonium, lijst A en B (NV MIJNEN: the Protected Mining Property, list A and B), p.4.
↑ On 19 December 1994 by Ministerial decree of Flemish minister Johan Sauwens
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