Former underground brown coal mine in south-west Mecklenburg, operated with interruptions from 1817 to 1960, now a managed altbergbau site with shaft-filling and sealed workings and no surviving surface structures.
The Braunkohlenbergwerk Malliß is the largest known brown coal deposit in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, located on the south-western flank of the Salzstock Conow near the commune of Malliß in the Landkreis Ludwigslust-Parchim. Brown coal extraction at Malliß and the adjacent Conow field took place with substantial interruptions from 1817 to 1960, making it one of the longest-running brown coal mining histories in northern Germany. Two workable seams were identified: the Oberflöz (upper seam), approximately 1.5 metres thick on average, and the more productive Unterflöz (lower seam), averaging 2.5 metres.
The Oberflöz was worked from 1817 in the Friedrich-Franz-Feld, discontinued in 1838 due to poor returns, resumed by the Mecklenburgische Bergbau-Verein from 1856, and finally closed in 1880 when drainage became unworkable. The Unterflöz was brought into production from 1873–1875 via the Marienstollen drainage adit, which allowed gravity drainage and eliminated the need for pumping. The Mallißer Ziegelei- und Bergwerks-Gesellschaft continued Unterflöz extraction from 1882, supplying the expanding Malliß brickworks and customers along the Elde waterway, until competition from Middle German brown coal producers led to closure in 1908.
Extraction was briefly resumed from 1922 to 1926 by the Gewerkschaft Conow to supply the adjacent potash works. After 1945, the VEB Braunkohlenbergwerk Malliß resumed mining in 1947, developing new shaft complexes including the Malliß-Schacht (1948) and the Conow series shafts (Conow IV, V, VI). All operations finally ceased in 1960, after which the shafts were filled and workings sealed.
No surface structures survive.
The brown coal deposit at Malliß was identified in 1817 through a programme of systematic drilling authorised by the Großherzogliche Kammer of Mecklenburg, directed by Bergrat Abich and Steiger Adam Christian Mengebier. Mengebier had already worked the Friedrich-Franz-Zeche at Bockup near Lübtheen; surveying further south he located, just south of Malliß and approximately 200 metres east of the present Bundesstraße 191, two superior brown coal seams. Development work in the Malliß area began in 1850. Three seams were ultimately identified: the Oberflöz (upper seam, average 1.5 metres thick), the Unterflöz (lower seam, average 2.5 metres, the more productive), and a third seam of insufficient thickness to be worth working.
The Oberflöz was opened in the Friedrich-Franz-Feld from 1817 via shafts of up to 25 metres depth. By 1855 the workforce comprised one Steiger and 25–30 miners producing approximately 150 tonnes per day. In 1856 the Mecklenburgische Bergbau-Verein reacquired and expanded the operation; by 1865 a severe water inundation caused the workforce to abandon the mine and two years passed before production resumed. Oberflöz extraction was finally ended in 1880 as water management became uncontrollable. Approximately 187,000 tonnes of coal had been extracted from the Oberflöz since 1817.
From the 1870s, attention turned to the deeper and better-quality Unterflöz. The crucial enabling development was the Marienstollen drainage adit, which allowed groundwater to drain naturally by gravity to the Elde-Kanal, making pumping unnecessary. Unterflöz extraction in the Marienstollen field commenced in 1873–1875. From 1873 to 1900 approximately 155,000 tonnes of coal were extracted from the Marienstollen field. The Mallißer Ziegelei, by the 1870s greatly expanded and with a high fuel demand, became the principal customer, with coal transported along a purpose-built canal connecting the brickworks to the Elde-Kanal and then onwards to destinations along the Elde. The Mallißer Ziegelei- und Bergwerks-Gesellschaft assumed operation of the mine in 1882, continuing Unterflöz extraction until 1908, when competition from Middle German brown coal — which could deliver cheaper briquettes despite longer freight distances — made the operation uneconomic. By 1907 the company had a deficit of 49,962 Mark and it resolved to dissolve in April 1908.
When post-First World War fuel shortages created renewed demand, the Gewerkschaft Conow — which operated the adjacent potash works — acquired the extraction rights for the Malliß Unterflöz field in 1922. It developed the field below the former workings via a new surface shaft (Schacht B) and a surface-level incline (Conow-Stollen I). Schacht B was sunk on borehole No. 49 near the Bockup road; it reached the coal seam at 45.2 metres and had a total depth of approximately 51 metres. Schacht B served for water management and ventilation; all hoisting and personnel movement used the Conow-Stollen I. Approximately 155,000 tonnes of coal were raised between 1922 and 1926 exclusively for the potash works' boiler plant. When the Kaliwerk Conow was closed and flooded in 1926, the brown coal mine also ceased operations.
After the Second World War, the acute fuel shortage in Soviet-occupied Mecklenburg prompted renewed extraction. Production resumed in 1947 with the working of residual pillar coal around the Conow-Stollen I. In 1948 the Malliß-Schacht was sunk to develop the remaining field sections. The new operating entity was initially a Gesellschaft mbH with the land of Mecklenburg holding 499,000 of the 500,000 Reichsmark share capital; the company was transferred to Volkseigentum as the VEB Braunkohlenbergwerk Malliß by resolution of 18 July 1949. The focus of extraction shifted progressively north-westwards as the Conow field was developed with the inclined shafts Conow IV, V, and VI; working depths followed the seam dip to approximately 50 metres below ground. All operations finally ceased in 1960, ending over 140 years of brown coal mining at Malliß with multiple interruptions.
After closure, the shafts were systematically sealed. The Malliß-Schacht was filled. The stollen access points Conow I and other portals were documented for heritage purposes; the Marienstollen portal was restored in 1997–1998 and the Conow I stollen portal in 1998. A subsequent engineering geology study of 2002 assessed subsidence risks and further cavity-filling works were carried out in 2003–2004. The former mine field is managed as Altbergbau by the Bergamt Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. No surface structures from the mine survive. A figurative monument — a stone dog beside the Bundesstraße 191 — has been erected at Malliß to commemorate the mining history of the commune.