EXKURSION TO A FORMER COAL MINE

On May 17, 2017 approximately 60 visitors explored the site of the former coal mine called Auguste Victoria 3/7, under expert guidance. The excursion led the participants not only in the  steps of the past but also showed them a path to the future: Dr Manfred Gehrke, city council Marl, and Volker Duddek, RAG Montan Immobilien, gave the guests a look at the plans for the former coal mine site, where the industrial and business location called gate.ruhr is planned to be developed.

While the area is not generally accessible to the public, the visitors from Marl and the surrounding area used this opportunity to inspect distinctive and important locations on the site in person. Through existing buildings, past the massive coal mixing hall they went onto a plateau with a panoramic view across the entire coal mine site. The focus of this last stop of the excursion lay mainly on the Northern part of the former coal mine. This is where the restructuring into the industrial and business location gate.ruhr will begin. For that to happen, one of the stuck piles will be „turned over“, as Dr Manfred Gehrke, head of economic promotion at the city council, and Volker Duddek, project manager for RAG Montan Immobilien GmbH, who is responsible – as infrastructural developer of the coal mining company RAG – for the revitalisation of the coal mining site, explained at the location. „That way, we would create a big even surface, which offers large businesses plenty of space“, says Volker Duddek.

The schedule is ambitious, yes, with the realisation of the project planned for 2020, says Volker Duddek. „Our goal: To make gate.ruhr the fastest developed formerly fallow coal mine in the Ruhr Valley“, Dr Manfred Gehrke said during the excursion event.

The entire area offers a site for industrial and business usage, whose size is rare nowadays. „Which means we want to market the site not only on a national level but also internationally.“ gate.ruhr has the potential to create up to 1,000 new jobs.

The excursion was also the starting point for a photographic tour, in which 15 photographers from the region took part. Thomas Wlochinski, former head of the daytime operation of AV 3/7, lead the participants to distinctive spots like the coe (transl.: „Kaue“, practically the changing room for coal miners) and the coal mixing hall.

The grande finale of the evening took place in the former payment and light hall in the shape of a get-together. While enjoying some snacks the guests got an opportunity to discuss the great plans for the site filled with tradition.