Shaft 2 at the former Haus Aden mine in Bergkamen is currently being converted into a mine drainage system.

 

For this purpose, RAG, the former operator of the mine, has commissioned the Mülheim-based mining specialist THYSSEN SCHACHTBAU to carry out the work.

In a first step, the old winding machine was converted above ground and everything that is no longer needed was removed underground and in the shaft, which is about 1,045 m deep. In a next step, the shaft was closed off with a large steel platform at a depth of approx. 780 m.

 

Starting on this steel platform at a depth of 780 m, the shaft is currently being backfilled with construction material in 6 m long sections up to the surface. At the same time, three pipelines, each with a diameter of 1.4 m, are being installed along the entire length of the shaft. Once the shaft has been completely filled, submersible pumps are suspended in these pipelines from above ground, just like in a normal garden fountain, and are lowered to a depth of 780 m.

 

Once the conversion work has been completed there, which includes dismantling the pit frame, the site can take over its function within RAG's mine water concept and pump the mine water from 780 m depth "for all eternity" to protect the groundwater and the surface.