The Rheinisches Braunkohlerevier, often called the Rhenish mining area, is a lignite mining area or district in the Cologne Bay, on the northwestern edge of the Rhenish Slate Mountains. The mining of lignite using the open pit method has had a significant impact on the landscape here and led to the formation of several important industrial sites. The area includes the Zülpicher and Jülicher Börde, the Erft lowlands and the Ville, making it the largest lignite mining area in Europe. To a lesser extent clay, silica sand and loess are mined here. The area is the only active lignite mining area in what was West Germany during German partition (all other active lignite mines in Germany are in the former east) and contains the mines with the largest surface area, greatest depth (both absolute and relative to Normalhöhennull), and biggest annual output of coal.
Today, the industrial use of the coalfield with the complete value chain from coal mining to power generation is carried out exclusively by the RWE Group (via its subsidiary RWE Power). According to current planning, mining in the Rhenish lignite mining area is secured until 2030. Forecasts about future developments are difficult, as a central pillar of the German energy turnaround is a coal phase-out.
Boundaries and division
Southern District
The southern district around Brühl begins south of Brühl in the Ville, there north of a line Brühl-Eckdorf/ Erftstadt-Bliesheim. The southern district extends approximately as far as the course of the Luxemburger Straße B 265 near Hürth and Liblar and includes the former Gewerkschaft Hürtherberg mine and the present Hürtherberg recreational area. On the south side, it encloses the concessions of Carl Brendgen and his companies around Kierdorf. This area of small-scale mines had already been exhausted and recultivated by the mid-1960s. The open pits have given way to a forested recreational area with a large number of small and medium-sized lakes.
Middle district
The Middle Mining District covers the Villerücken area west of the Frechener Sprung (Frechen-Oberaußem-Niederaußem line) from the Luxemburger Strasse in the south to the Bergheim-Oberaußem line in the north. It is now largely decarbonized and recultivated, but the lignite industry with large power plants and downstream industries still characterizes the landscape.
Northern District (Nordrevier)
The northern district adjoins the seam-free Kasterer Horst and the Erft bend to the east and extends with the Garzweiler I and II opencast mines as far as Jüchen and Erkelenz, with the lignite seams extending to even greater depths below the Niers and Schwalm rivers. It also includes parts of the Erftscholle with the Hambach deep open pit mine near Jülich. Here, overburden and coal are extracted using large equipment such as bucket wheel excavators, and the pits are then backfilled using large-scale conveyor systems and spreaders. The coal is transported to the plants in the south by a dedicated rail network (north-south railroad (Garzweiler) and Hambach railroad). The Sophienhöhe spoil heap (290 m. above sea level) towers over the Jülicher Börde, visible from afar.
Western district (Westrevier) The western coalfield between Düren, Weisweiler, Eschweiler, Alsdorf, Aldenhoven and Jülich with the former Zukunft open pit mine, BIAG Zukunft and the Inden open pit mine uses seams of the Rurscholle to supply the Weisweiler power plant.
Mining the less thick lignite seams adjacent to this area is not economically viable at present. This is all the more true as it would involve resettlement measures at the same time.
Einige Industriestandorte am Rande des Reviers entwickelten sich dank der Braunkohle, so zum Beispiel die 1939 aus einer Kohlehydrierungs-Fabrik entstandene Raffinerie in Wesseling oder das Schaltwerk und Umspannwerk des RWE in Brauweiler. Sie werden gemeinhin mit zum Revier gerechnet.
Border areas
In addition to the above-mentioned main areas of the Rhenish mining district, there were also deposits of lignite on the eastern and southern edges of the Cologne Bay, which were also mined in some smaller pits in places until the 20th century. Geologically, these deposits are to be counted among the Rhenish lignite; organizationally and culturally, however, the lignite mines located in this area belong to the mining districts of the adjacent mountains, which are characterized by other mineral resources.
These include: