Former Dinslaken hard coal colliery shaft in Hünxe whose ventilation and transport shaft (Schacht IV/Hünxe), transferred to Bergwerk Prosper-Haniel after the closure of Zeche Lohberg in 2005, was the last use of this shaft before the closure of the entire
Zeche Lohberg Schacht IV — also known as Schacht Hünxe — was the northernmost and youngest shaft of the Zeche Lohberg in the area of the community of Hünxe, between Dinslaken and Hünxe. The Zeche Lohberg was founded by Fritz, Joseph, and August Thyssen on 30 December 1905 as the Gewerkschaft Lohberg, to supply coking coal to the Thyssen Bandeisenwalzwerk in Dinslaken. Sinking of the main Schächte 1 and 2 began in 1907 at the Landstraße between Dinslaken and Hünxe; the Carboniferous was reached in 1912 at 475 and 481 m; regular production for the Thyssen steelworks began in 1914.
In 1983 a further shaft, the Schacht Lohberg IV / Schacht Hünxe, was begun as a Wetter- und Transportschacht between Dinslaken and Hünxe. Sinking formally began in 1984; the shaft was completed to its final depth of 1,346 m by mid-February 1991 and entered service. In 1992 a Verbundstrecke connected Lohberg and Osterfeld at 1,270 m on the fifth level, creating the Verbundbergwerk Lohberg/Osterfeld.
Following the closure of Zeche Lohberg at end 2005, Schacht IV (Hünxe) was taken over by the Bergwerk Prosper-Haniel and continued to operate as an active ventilation shaft. It had been connected to the Bottroper Bergwerk Prosper at the 7th level since 2003. With the closure of Bergwerk Prosper-Haniel on 21 December 2018 — the last hard coal mine in Germany — Schacht Hünxe also ceased all operations.
No surface structure from the Schacht IV installation has been identified as a surviving listed monument in the consulted sources.
The history of Zeche Lohberg begins on 30 December 1905, when Fritz, Joseph, and August Thyssen, together with the Bergassessor Arthur Jacob — who served as leitender Direktor of the Thyssen mining division from 1904 to 1918 — founded the Gewerkschaft Lohberg to supply coking coal to the Dinslaken Bandeisenwalzwerk. Exploratory boreholes had established the site of the future shafts on the Landstraße between Dinslaken and Hünxe, where the coal seams were at comparatively modest depth and no quicksand layers were expected in the overburden. In 1902 the land for the surface installations and the already-planned housing colony was purchased; in 1903/04 the Grubenfelder were formally granted.
The Betriebsplan of 1906 envisaged a Doppelschachtanlage with coal preparation, coke works, and a Ringofenziegelei. In 1907 sinking of Schächte 1 and 2 began. In 1912 the first coal seams were reached at 475 and 481 m depth respectively.
In 1913 shaft sinking was completed at 771 m (Schacht 1) and 666 m (Schacht 2); the full construction of the surface installations, including the characteristic Gründerzeit ensemble designed by Arthur Jacob and the construction foreman Hesse, was essentially complete by 1915. In parallel, from 1907, the Zechenkolonie Lohberg was being laid out directly across the Hünxer Straße from the colliery gate — one of the largest housing settlements in the Ruhr, with ultimately 1,016 residential units centring on the Johannesplatz. Regular production for the Thyssen steelworks began in 1914.
By 1915 annual output was 475,501 tonnes. In 1914 the Zeche Lohberg passed, as part of the broader consolidation of the Thyssen-owned mining interests, to the Gruppe Hamborn of the Gelsenkirchener Bergwerks-AG. In 1926 the ownership passed to the Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG; from 1934 the designation changed to Gelsenkirchener Bergwerks AG — Gruppe Hamborn.
By the mid-1920s annual output had risen to a provisional peak of 829,000 tonnes with approximately 3,000 workers. In 1926 Schacht 1 was deepened to the 4th level (= 852 m) and in 1929–31 Schacht 2 to the 3rd level (= 734 m). In 1927 the Kohlenwäsche was brought into service.
The original Zschetsche headframe over Schacht 1, erected 1910/11, and the Fritz Schupp headframe over Schacht 2, erected 1955/56 — the latter at 70.5 m the highest in the entire Ruhr at the time of its construction — are separately described in heritage records. Post-war, the colliery was comprehensively modernised under the supervision of the architect Fritz Schupp. By 1958 the workforce stood at 5,234, the highest in the colliery's history.
Between 1960 and 1967 the new Wetterschacht 3 was sunk in the northeast of the mining area. In 1968 the Zeche Lohberg became part of the Hamborner Bergbau AG following the post-war Alliierten Entflechtung; it passed to the Ruhrkohle AG later. In 1979 the colliery achieved its highest ever annual output: 3,135,415 tonnes of coal, with 4,528 workers.
From 1983 planning began for a further shaft, the Schacht Lohberg IV / Schacht Hünxe, to serve as a Wetter- und Transportschacht between Dinslaken and Hünxe, in the area of the community of Hünxe approximately 3 km north-east of the main installation. The formal sinking of Schacht IV began in 1984. Work proceeded continuously, and by mid-February 1991 the shaft was completed to its final depth of approximately 1,346 m and entered service.
In 1989, on 1 July of that year, the organisational Verbund of the Bergwerke Lohberg and Osterfeld was formally established. The underground connection (OSLO-Strecke) was completed on 4 March 1991; from this point the Band installation conveyed coal from the Osterfeld field to the Lohberg surface. The Osterfeld shaft installations were progressively taken out of production, with Förderung at Osterfeld ending on 31 August 1992.
In 2000 Schacht III was decommissioned, demolished, and backfilled. In 2001 a 14-day production outage at Schacht 2 occurred when the southern skip could not be brought to a controlled stop in time. In 2003 the Schacht Hünxe was connected at the 7th level to the Bottroper Bergwerk Prosper, enabling an Übernahme of the fields if the Lohberg operation were to cease.
End 2005 the Zeche Lohberg was formally closed with more than 1,400 workers distributed to other Zechen or placed in early retirement. Schacht IV (Hünxe) was taken over by the Bergwerk Prosper-Haniel and continued to operate as a Wetterschacht. From June 2007 the Lohberg surface installation was comprehensively demolished, retaining only the Pförtnerhaus, Zechenwerkstatt, Betriebsgebäude, and Fördermaschinenhäuser.
The Fördergerüst over Schacht 1 was demolished in 2014 after the Förderverein Fördertürme Lohberg e.V.'s campaign to prevent it ultimately failed. Schacht 2, with the Fritz Schupp Fördergerüst, was retained as a Denkmal; the Fördergerüst over Schacht 2 (70.5 m) remains standing as a listed monument. The Zechenwerkstatt has been used since 2016 by the Dinslakener Bürgergesellschaft Freilicht AG as an event and community venue.
With the closure of the Bergwerk Prosper-Haniel on 21 December 2018 — the last active hard coal mine in Germany — Schacht IV (Hünxe) also finally ceased all operations.