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Regarding my comment on the closure of La Houve coal mine in France as reported by Mining Journal -- "I guess mining historians will be wondering just what is meant by 'rehabilitate the site' ", Ian Cowburn writes "It means get rid of any visible trace of coal mining activity, and sell off the houses and socio-cultural structures to privatised rent-collectors." I hope that at least the office block, depicted on my beer-mug, can be preserved. I recall it as being a building of great character and well worth converting into a mining museum. In it, if memory serves me right, there is a library containing a full set of Annales des Mines which, starting life in 1794 as the Journal des Mines, is older than Mining Journal. Tony Brewis