The Local Germany

Torn over coal, German village struggles to heal

Sun, 27 Jan 2019 11:11:26 +0100

Sybille Tetsch returned to the German village of Proschim to set up a restaurant four years ago, in an attempt to save her birthplace from mining excavators and heal a deep rift there over the future of coal.

Update: Germany shutters last black coal mine

Fri, 21 Dec 2018 10:24:46 +0100

Germany will close its last black coal mine on Friday, a milestone marking the end of a 200-year-old industry that once fuelled the country's economic growth but lost the battle against cheaper foreign competitors.

'Coal, beer, football': German clubs honour last mine

Thu, 20 Dec 2018 13:37:33 +0100

When Germany's last black coal mine shuts on Friday, it is not just miners who may shed a tear – football fans too will mourn the end of a pillar of the nation's industrial wealth.

How Germany will shut down its last black coal mine

Wed, 19 Dec 2018 12:31:22 +0100

After more than 150 years, Germany's last black coal mine will close in the Ruhr region, posing a gigantic geological and environmental challenge to the former industrial heartland.

Quake makes sleepy German town tremble

Tue, 22 Dec 2015 10:45:07 +0100

Residents of a suburb of Cologne were jolted from their sleep on Tuesday morning when an earthquake hit western Germany.

'Earthquake' shakes west German town

Fri, 20 Dec 2013 14:12:00 +0100

Residents in a sleepy part of western Germany woke up to an unusally strong earthquake on Friday. Registering 3.5 on the Richter scale, houses swayed before dawn broke.

Court: villages will not be ripped up for coal

Wed, 18 Dec 2013 09:53:00 +0100

Germany's highest court threw out on Tuesday a lawsuit against plans for an enormous open-cast coal mine for which entire villages will have to be uprooted.

Investigation begins into fatal mine gas leak

Thu, 03 Oct 2013 18:27:00 +0200

Details emerged on Thursday as an investigation was launched into the worst mining accident in Germany since 1989. Three men died in a mine in central Germany on Tuesday afternoon after deadly gas escaped into a mine shaft.

Explosion kills three miners, four rescued

Wed, 02 Oct 2013 10:25:00 +0200

UPDATE: Three people are dead after a carbon dioxide explosion at a mine in central Germany trapped seven miners on Tuesday afternoon.

Mine protester pulled out of tunnel after four days

Sat, 17 Nov 2012 12:12:00 +0100

Police have pulled an environmental protester out of a six-metre deep tunnel after four days trying to dig him out without prompting a collapse which would have buried him alive.

Last coal marks end of Saarland mining

Fri, 29 Jun 2012 18:59:00 +0200

An era quietly ended on Friday when the last coal was brought up from the west German Saarland region.

Bavarian graphite mine reopens on higher prices

Thu, 21 Jun 2012 16:20:00 +0200

A graphite mine in Bavaria reopened on Thursday as rising prices of raw material imports from China made German mining profitable once again. Meanwhile, the search is on to find sources of expensive raw materials closer to home.

Miner killed in poisonous gas leak

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 12:37:00 +0200

A miner has been killed and 26 injured after a gas leak in a potash mine in the German state of Lower Saxony. The workers drilled into a pocket of highly toxic hydrogen sulphide at a depth of 1,200 metres.

Germany urges China to change rare metals policy

Fri, 07 Jan 2011 17:43:00 +0100

Germany on Friday urged a visiting senior Chinese official to review Beijing's restrictions on exporting so-called "rare earths" critical to manufacturing hi-tech goods.

Germany changes rare minerals strategy over China spat

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 12:27:00 +0200

Germany has unveiled a new strategy to help firms in Europe's top economy obtain vital minerals, amid concern that China is curbing exports of rare earths crucial for high-tech industries.

Massive cave-in stokes familiar fears in Saxony-Anhalt

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 14:06:00 +0200

Geologists are urgently investigating the subterranean ground outside Bernburg in Saxony Anhalt after a massive section of earth abruptly collapsed, leaving a 40 metre-deep crater.

Two homes evacuated after landslide opens huge crater

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:09:00 +0100

Two homes in the town of Tiefenort in Thuringia were evacuated on Friday after a landslide opened up a two-metre crater nearby.

Clues to unstable ground near landslide were ignored

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 11:00:00 +0200

There were clues that the ground in Nachterstedt was unstable years before a landslide pulled homes into a lake killing three people earlier this week, daily Frankfurter Rundschau reported on Thursday.

Former mines to be inspected after landslide kills three

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 11:00:00 +0200

Four days after a landslide pulled homes into a lake killing three people in Nachterstedt, the state of Saxony-Anhalt’s premier announced on Wednesday that all lakes made from former open-pit mines will be inspected.

Officials warn of more landslides around lake

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:30:00 +0200

Two days after a landslide dropped one-and-a-half houses into a lake bed and likely left three people dead, authorities in Saxony-Anhalt are warning of further landslides around the former open-pit mine.