Reconstructed timber headframe at the entrance to Maxhütte-Haidhof, commemorating the role of brown coal mining in the early industrial development of the town.
At the town entrance of Maxhütte-Haidhof in the Oberpfälzer Landkreis Schwandorf stands a timber-framed replica headframe (Förderturm) erected as a memorial to the brown coal mining that shaped the early history of the area. Brown coal was discovered in the Sauforst between Burglengenfeld and Haidhof in 1835, and from the mid-1840s the deposits were mined on a modest underground basis. The most significant driver of extraction was the founding of the Eisenwerk-Gesellschaft Maximilianshütte in 1851–1853, which initially used local brown coal for its iron-rolling operations.
Because of the coal's high moisture content and poor energy value, it was progressively replaced by imported Bohemian hard coal, and by 1867 consumption of the locally mined product had fallen sharply. From around 1880 extraction shifted towards open-cast methods as shallow underground workings became uneconomical. The Oberpfälzische Braunkohlengewerkschaft Haidhof was succeeded by the Bayerische Überlandzentrale Ponholz AG from 1908, which used brown coal to fuel an electricity-generating station at Ponholz that opened in 1910 and supplied power to Regensburg and the southern Oberpfalz.
The power station closed in 1932. After 1945 the remaining pits were converted to clay and shale extraction by the Oberpfälzische Schamotte- und Tonwerke GmbH, which continued until 2018. The replica headframe was erected at the town entrance as a civic memorial to the contribution of mining to the identity and industrial origins of Maxhütte-Haidhof.
Brown coal was first encountered in the Sauforst between Burglengenfeld and Haidhof in 1835, when a brownish material was discovered and samples sent to Amberg for testing. The results were satisfactory and the find attracted investors to the area. The first formal mining concessions in the district were granted in 1846 to the apothecary Brenner of Burglengenfeld together with the Sauforster estate owner Sulzberger and Count Oberndorf of Regendorf. In 1845 Josef Friedrich Fikentscher of Regensburg had already purchased the Obere Strieglhof specifically to exploit the coal deposits. From Fikentscher's enterprise there developed, in subsequent decades, the Oberpfälzische Braunkohlengewerkschaft Haidhof.
The decisive stimulus for larger-scale extraction was the decision by the Belgian industrialists Télémaque Michiels and Henry Goffard to locate a new iron-rolling works in the Sauforst, exploiting the proximity of the Oberpfalz brown coal deposits and the Amberg iron ore fields. The Kommanditgesellschaft auf Aktien T. Michiels, Henry Goffard & Cie was founded on 22 December 1850; the Eisenwerk-Gesellschaft Maximilianshütte, named after King Maximilian II of Bavaria, began production in January 1853. The local brown coal — a low-grade lignite with very high moisture content (around 40 per cent) — proved poorly suited for the iron-working operations, and by 1867 only 90,000 Zentner of local Lignitzkohle were consumed against 671,000 Zentner of hard coal imported from Bohemia. The Maxhütte progressively shifted its fuel supply to Bohemian coal.
Underground extraction of brown coal in the Haidhof area continued on a modest basis into the later nineteenth century, conducted by several successive companies. Around 1880, as shallow underground seams were exhausted, and as machinery for open-cast working became available, extraction gradually transferred to open-cast methods. In 1889 August Henkel acquired the Obere Strieglhof and adjoining parcels, covering approximately 2,700 hectares, and together with partners Sedlmeier and Reuschl founded the firm Henkel et Cie. The firm brought in miners from Styria and Transylvania to professionalise operations.
In 1893 the Oberpfälzische Braunkohle-Gesellschaft was founded. In 1908 the mining interests were acquired by the Bayerische Überlandzentrale Ponholz AG. The principal purpose of this company was not coal production itself but the generation and distribution of electricity: a power station at Ponholz was opened in 1910, burning the local brown coal to supply power to Regensburg and the surrounding southern Oberpfalz. A briquet factory had been opened at Haidhof-Ponholz in 1907, but the poor quality of the coal rendered briquet production uneconomic. The power station closed in 1932. After the closure of the power station, coal extraction continued on a reduced basis until 1933, when it was briefly resumed to mitigate the effects of the economic depression, though output declined and the focus shifted increasingly to clay extraction. After 1945 the former coal pits were taken over by the Oberpfälzische Schamotte- und Tonwerke GmbH Ponholz for clay and refractory material extraction, which continued until the firm finally ceased operations in 2018.
The replica timber headframe at the town entrance to Maxhütte-Haidhof was erected to commemorate the mining history of the area. Sources describe it as a Holz nachgebauter Förderturm — a timber reconstruction of a headframe type formerly used in the local coal mines — situated at the Ortseingang (town entrance) of Maxhütte-Haidhof. No date has been identified in the consulted sources for the erection of the replica. The connection between the brown coal discoveries of the 1830s and 1840s and the founding of the Maxhütte in 1851 is described in sources as the essential precondition for the industrial development of the town.