Inden Coal Mine

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Inden Coal Mine is an operating coal mine in Inden , Aldenhoven , Jülich, North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name Location Coordinates (WGS 84)
Inden Coal Mine Inden , Aldenhoven , Jülich, North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany 50.875, 6.35 (exact)

The map below shows the exact location of the coal mine:

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Project Details

Table 2: Project status

Status Status Detail Opening Year Closing Year
Operating 1982 2030 (planned)[1]

Table 3: Operation details

Note: The asterisk (*) signifies that the value is a GEM estimated figure.
Capacity (Mtpa) Production (Mtpa) Year of Production Mine Type Mining Method Mine Size (km2) Mine Depth (m) Workforce Size
15.58[2] 2021[2] Surface Open Pit 17[1] 230[1] 1283*

Table 4: Coal resources and destination

Total Reserves (Mt) Year of Total Reserves Recorded Total Resources (Mt) Coalfield Coal Type Coal Grade Primary Consumer/ Destination
260 Ruhr Lignite Thermal

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Owner Parent Company Headquarters
RWE Power AG[3] RWE AG [100.0%] Germany

Table 6: Historical production (unit: million tonnes per annum)

Note: The asterisk (*) indicates that the value is an estimated figure based on various factors, including the company's forecasted or reported monthly or quarterly production data, etc.
ROM or Saleable 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Saleable 19*[4] 17[5] 13[5] 11[2] 15[2] 16*[6] 12*[7]

Note: The above section was automatically generated and is based on data from the Global Coal Mine Tracker April 2024 release and the September supplement.

Background

The Inden mine is a surface coal mine, operated by RWE Power near Inden, Aldenhoven, and Jülich, North Rhine–Westphalia, Germany.[8] The Inden mine was first developed in 1957 by the brown coal and briquette works company, Roddergrube AG. Coincidentally, this company had been closely linked to RWE since 1912.[9] As early as 1959, around one million tons of lignite were being mined for the Weisweiler power station. In 1969, the mine was temporarily shut down because the coal supplies from the Zukunft-West opencast mine were sufficient. However, redevelopment of the Inden field began in 1981 as the coal reserves at Zukunft-West neared depletion.[9]

Although approved for a coalfield size of 4,500 hectares, the mine currently only operates at a size of about 1,700 hectares (17 km2).[10]

Since opening, the mine's operations have expanded eastwards. This means that on the eastern edge of the open pit, the layers above the coal are removed until it is exposed. The overburden that arises is then backfilled on the opposite side and the landscape is recultivated so that the open pit “wanders.” As the Inde River crosses the mining area, a new river bed was created that has been leading the river around the open pit to the west since the end of 2005.[11] This man-made lake, which is referred to as the “Inden Ocean” due to its size, will be left behind by the Inden mine after its planned decommissioning in 2030.[10]

  • Owner: RWE Power AG
  • Parent Company: RWE AG
  • Location: Inden, Aldenhoven, and Jülich, North Rhine–Westphalia, Germany
  • GPS Coordinates: 50.875, 6.35 (exact)
  • Mine Status: Operating
  • Production: 13.8 (2019)[12], 11.59 Mt (2020), 15.58 Mt (2021)[13]
  • Total Resource:
  • Total Reserves: 260 million tonnes[10]
  • Coal Type: Lignite
  • Mine Size: 17km2[10]
  • Mine Type: Surface
  • Start Year: 1957; 1982
  • Retirement Year: 2030 (expected)
  • Source of Financing:

Articles and Resources

Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of world coal mines, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Mine Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 https://web.archive.org/web/20240207184802/https://www.rwe.com/en/the-group/countries-and-locations/inden-mine-site/. Archived from the original on 07 February 2024. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |archive-date= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 (PDF) https://web.archive.org/web/20240219035115/https://braunkohle.de/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/202203_Dyllong_Maassen_Schiffer_Die-deutsche-Braunkohlenindustrie-2021.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 February 2024. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. https://web.archive.org/web/20240722235738/https://www.rwe.com/en/the-group/rwe-power/. Archived from the original on 22 July 2024. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. https://web.archive.org/web/20240209182038/https://www.cleanenergywire.org/factsheets/germanys-three-lignite-mining-regions. Archived from the original on 09 February 2024. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |archive-date= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. 5.0 5.1 (PDF) https://mining-report.de/wp-content/uploads/_pda/2020/08/MRG_2004_Braunkohle_2019_200804.pdf. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. https://kohlenstatistik.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Braunkohle-im-Ueberblick.xlsx. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. (PDF) https://braunkohle.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/20240325_10.-Korrekturfahne_DEBRIV_Statistikflyer-de_105x210mm.pdf. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  8. Germany's Three Lignite Mining Regions, Clean Energy Wire, 2018.
  9. 9.0 9.1 Tagebau Inden auf Industriemuseen Euregio Maas-Rhein (Memento des Originals vom 7. November 2017 im Internet Archive, Industrial Museums of the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion.
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Inden mine, RWE website, accessed June 2022.
  11. Devastation of the Inden opencast mine (Original from April 24, 2012 in the Internet Archive)
  12. Ten Biggest Producing Surface Mine in Europe in 2020, Mining Technology,06 Sep 2021.
  13. "The German lignite industry in 2021 (page 84)" (PDF). braunkohle.de/. 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)