Former coal colliery at Liévin whose surviving trellised-lattice headframe of 1923 stands within an industrial zone as a listed monument and UNESCO World Heritage site.
The Fosse n° 3 – 3 bis dite Saint-Amé ou Amé Tilloy de la Compagnie des mines de Lens is a former coal colliery of the Compagnie des mines de Lens in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais coalfield, situated at Liévin. The puits n° 3 was begun in 1858 and began extracting coal in 1860, reaching a depth of 298 metres. A second shaft, the puits n° 3 bis, was sunk from 1881, 40 metres to the north of the puits n° 3.
The fosse was destroyed during the First World War and rebuilt afterwards: the puits n° 3 received a reinforced-concrete headframe and the puits n° 3 bis a trellised-lattice metallic headframe, both dating from 1922–23. After nationalisation in 1946 and post-war shaft deepening, extraction ceased in 1960 when the fosse was connected by a crosscut to the fosse n° 11 – 19. An explosion on 27 December 1974 killed 42 miners — the deadliest mining disaster in post-war France.
The fosse closed in 1978. The reinforced-concrete headframe of the puits n° 3 was demolished in 1983; the metallic headframe of the puits n° 3 bis was retained, inscribed as a monument historique on 6 May 1992, and listed as UNESCO World Heritage site n° 70 on 30 June 2012. The pit-head site has been converted to an industrial zone.
The fosse n° 3 – 3 bis dite Saint-Amé ou Amé Tilloy was named in honour of Amé Tilloy, a founder of the Compagnie des mines de Lens. The puits n° 3 was begun by the Compagnie des mines de Lens in 1858 at Liévin, 170 metres east of the church of Saint-Amé and 410 metres from the road from Liévin to Lens. The shaft mouth stood at an altitude of 59.10 metres, with a useful diameter of 4.08 metres.
The water level was passed using two pumps of 41 centimetres diameter, with a maximum water inflow of 1,000 to 2,000 hectolitres per hour. The coal seam was encountered at 141 metres depth. The fosse began extracting in 1860; the puits n° 3 was initially 298 metres deep.
The coal extracted held 30 to 40 per cent volatile matter. A terril cavalier, the terril n° 233, Cavalier du 3 de Lens, connected the fosse to other fosses of the Compagnie. Workers' cités were built in the vicinity of the fosse, along with a first church of Saint-Amé erected in 1875 to the west of the fosse.
In 1881, a second shaft, the puits n° 3 bis, was begun 40 metres to the north of the puits n° 3. This shaft reached a depth of 356.52 metres and served initially as a ventilation shaft before assuring extraction from 1883 onwards. In 1890, three accrochages were recorded at 179, 288 and 348 metres, and the shaft was deepened to 356 metres.
The fosse was destroyed during the First World War; the church of Saint-Amé was struck by shellfire in 1915. The fosse was reconstructed after the war in the Lens company's characteristic post-war architectural style. The puits n° 3 received a reinforced-concrete headframe, while the puits n° 3 bis was equipped with a trellised-lattice metallic headframe of type avant-carré porteur constructed in 1923 by the workshops of B.B.T (Barbier, Benard et Turenne) of Quièvrechain (Nord).
This headframe weighed 350 tonnes and stood 43 metres tall. Its roof over the sheave wheels comprised two superimposed parts, surmounted by a lightning conductor bearing the symbols of the Compagnie des mines de Lens — the crossed pick and axe. The sheave wheels had a diameter of 5.5 metres.
The headframe was acquired by the commune of Liévin in 1987. The cités, schools and church were also rebuilt after the war; the current church of Saint-Amé was consecrated in 1935. The Compagnie des mines de Lens was nationalised in 1946 and integrated into the Groupe de Lens.
Trials with a coal-cutting rabot were conducted in 1949. In 1952, the Groupe de Lens merged with the Groupe de Liévin to form the Groupe de Lens-Liévin. Following nationalisation, the puits nos 3 and 3 bis were deepened respectively to 432 and 535 metres.
In 1956 the fosse n° 16, at Loos-en-Gohelle, was concentrated on the fosse n° 3 – 3 bis. In 1960, the fosse n° 3 – 3 bis was connected by a crosscut to the fosse n° 11 – 19 at Loos-en-Gohelle, 2,018 metres to the north-north-east, and ceased extraction; it continued to provide service and ventilation for the concentration. The puits n° 3, 548 metres deep, was backfilled in 1972.
On 27 December 1974, at 6 h 19, an explosion — a coup de poussière — devastated the quartier des Six sillons, a working area of the fosse, killing 42 miners and injuring five others. This was the most destructive mining disaster in France since Courrières in 1906. Among the dead, the youngest was 25 years old and the oldest 54.
The explosion left over one hundred orphans. The fosse closed in 1978 and the puits n° 3 bis was filled. The reinforced-concrete headframe of the puits n° 3 was demolished five years after closure, in 1983; the trellised-lattice headframe of the puits n° 3 bis was retained by the commune of Liévin as a memorial to the 42 victims of the 1974 catastrophe.
A decompression borehole S55 was drilled from 13 to 21 April 2004 at 600 metres from the fosse, reaching 212 metres depth. Charbonnages de France materialised the pit-head markers for puits nos 3 and 3 bis in the early twenty-first century; the BRGM conducts annual inspections. The pit-head site was converted to an industrial zone; workers' cités and the church have been renovated.
A road was laid on part of the former terril n° 233. The metallic headframe of the puits n° 3 bis was inscribed as a monument historique on 6 May 1992. It was restored in 2000 by the Établissement Public Foncier in the context of the 1994–1999 plan-région.
On 30 June 2012, the headframe was listed as part of the Bassin minier du Nord-Pas-de-Calais UNESCO World Heritage inscription, constituting site n° 70.
