Hi list,
All the records of the early VM period (pre-Paris headquarters era) are
stored in the library of exact sciences of the University of Liege. Much of
it is lost due to fire and/or selling off to private parties (the librarian
isn't very clear about that). The only thing I got when researching the
actions of the VM in the UK were accountbooks with little or no information
100% mining related (other than some mineplans). So I am hereby renewing my
question for help if anyone got something useful about the Vieille Montagne
works in Cumbria UK can contact me off list.
Kind Regards,
Philip Mostmans
2006/11/7, Harald Finster <[log in to unmask]>:
>
> Hello,
>
> thanks for the information.
> As I live just a few miles from the village of La Calamine
> (German: Kelmis), I would like to add a few details,
> if anyone is interested.
>
> Between 1816 und 1919 La Calamine used to be a semi-independent
> state (called Neutral Moresnet), because Prussia and the
> Netherlands were unable to find an agreement on the ownership
> during the Vienna conference.
>
> There was (at least) a second mine in Lontzen, about
> 3 km away, which was connected to La Calamine via
> aerial ropeway. Part of the buildings in Lontzen are still intact.
>
> Today only few remains of the mine and dressing plant in
> La Calamine are visible:
> - a fragment of the dressing plant (probably a silo)
> has been converted into a warehouse (they sell building
> materials, tiles etc.)
> - some of the old spoil heaps
> - a water supply or settling pond
> - the former administration building
> - sections of the railway track
>
> Kind regards
>
> Harald
>
>
> Bernard Moore wrote:
> >
> > Dear All,
> > Some info. I found recently that I thought some might find interesting.
> I
> > have 'edited' it to read clearly. Hope you might find it as interesting
> as I
> > have.
> > Regards, Bernard
> >
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > -----------------
> > Calamine mines were exploited as a national asset by the French
> Republic; in
> > 1805, Emperor Napoléon I created a 8,200 ha concession around the
> Vieille
> > Montagne des calamines du ci-devant Limbourg. The chemist Dony, a former
> Canon
> > of the St. Peter's Chapter in Liège was awarded the concession. Dony
> invented
> > a zinc reduction oven known in the industrial world as the "Belgian
> oven" or
> > the "Liège oven". In 1813, Dony ceded the concession to the banker
> Mosselman,
> > who founded in 1837 - with his family and the Bank of Belgium - the S.A.
> des
> > Mines et Fonderies de Zinc de la Vieille Montagne. The
> Altenberg-Vieille
> > Montagne mine was declared exhausted in 1884. The mines production
> between 1553
> > and 1787 was evaluated to 184,000 tons (raw), 1,255,000 tons of raw
> material
> > was extracted from 1837 to 1884. The Schmalgraf mine produced 645,797
> tons
> > (raw) from 1869 to 1933, yielding 337,806 tons of concentrated product.
> The
> > mine, although not exhausted, was abandoned in 1933 for economic
> reasons. Before
> > 1805 and Dony's invention, calamine was specifically used for the
> > fabrication of brass and sold to the copperware manufacturers
> (dinandiers) established
> > in the valley of Moselle in Bouvignies.
> >
>
> --
> Dr.-Ing. Harald Finster / Aachen Germany
> http://www.finster-stahlart.de industrial history and architecture
> http://www.astrid-aix.de gallery: watercolours and oil paintings
>
--
Philip Mostmans
Windmolenveldstraat 1
B-3000 Leuven
BELGIUM
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