Former hard coal and fireclay mine in Lower Silesia, closed 2000, now open as a heritage museum and underground tourist route in sztolnia Lech.
Kopalnia Nowa Ruda was a hard coal and fireclay mine in Nowa Ruda in Lower Silesia, with mining history reaching back to at least 1434, making it among the earliest documented coal workings on present Polish territory. The modern mine's principal predecessor was Kopalnia Ruben, established by the Stillfried family in 1742, with systematic coal extraction beginning in 1781. From 1868 production was conducted through szyb Lech (initially Maxschacht), which was equipped with an 18 horsepower steam winding engine.
A distinctive hazard of the mine was the frequent and violent expulsion of carbon dioxide gas and rock, which made the colliery one of the most dangerous in Europe: between 1908 and 1945, 596 gas-and-rock expulsions were recorded, and the catastrophic event of 10 May 1941 at the level V of seam Franciszek killed 187 miners and is the worst mining disaster in the history of Lower Silesia. Post-1945 the mine was reorganised under Polish administration as KWK Nowa Ruda, incorporating the former Przygórze and Jan collieries (1946) and later forming a combined entity with the Słupiec mine. Closure was decided on economic grounds in 1992; the last miners left the surface in 1995 and formal liquidation was completed on 8 February 2000.
A heritage museum and underground tourist route in sztolnia Lech opened in 1994–1996 and continues to operate.
The first written record of mining in Nowa Ruda dates to 1434, which places this coalfield among the earliest documented in the territory of present-day Poland. For several centuries coal was extracted by small-scale operations, but the modern mine traces its origins to 1742, when the Stillfried family, owners of the Nowa Ruda estate, established Kopalnia Ruben in the Drogosław district of Nowa Ruda. Systematic coal extraction began in 1781 in the vicinity of the future szyb Lech. Until 1868 all production was conducted by means of adits (sztolnie). In that year szyb Maxschacht (later renamed Lech) was sunk to the first working level; it was equipped with an 18-horsepower steam winding engine and with water pumping devices. The use of dynamite with a water cartridge (dynamit z przybitką wodną) was introduced at the mine at this time, representing a technical innovation.
In 1877 deposits of fireclay (łupek ogniotrwały) were discovered at Nowa Ruda. After the Second World War, the mine was the only place in Poland where fireclay was extracted, subjected to complex purification and calcination, and processed for refractory materials. This gave rise to a unique industrial infrastructure, in particular the distinctive Nowa Ruda kiln towers (piece prażalnicze). By 1891 the mine's workforce numbered 554 persons, who extracted over 80,000 tonnes of coal and 35,000 tonnes of fireclay. After flood events in 1839 and 1876, more powerful dewatering equipment was installed. Despite this, on 7 September 1910 a flood at szyb Piast inundated the third working level.
A defining characteristic and danger of the mine was the violent expulsion of carbon dioxide gas and rock from compressed geological formations. The first documented gas-and-rock expulsion occurred in 1908. Between 1908 and 1945, 596 such events were recorded with a total expelled mass of over 114,000 tonnes of coal and rock. The most catastrophic event occurred on the evening of 10 May 1941 at approximately 22:45, during drilling and blasting works in Durchschlag (connecting drift) No. 2 at the fifth working level of seam Franciszek (pokład Franciszek), at a depth of approximately 610 metres. A violent expulsion of carbon dioxide and rock struck the workings when both the outgoing afternoon shift and the incoming night shift were underground. Only five or six miners survived. The final death toll was 187 persons, including at least two Allied prisoners of war. It is the deadliest mining disaster in the history of Lower Silesia. After this catastrophe the Piast mining field was divided by sealed dams into a northern zone subject to gas-and-rock expulsion hazard and a southern zone free of this hazard. A further gas-and-rock expulsion at the Piast field on 3 October 1979 killed seven miners.
Following the end of the Second World War, the mine passed to Polish administration and was renamed KWK Nowa Ruda from 1945. In 1946 the Przygórze and Jan collieries were incorporated into it. In 1954 the former Jan mining area was separated as the independent Kopalnia Słupiec. From 1971 Kopalnia Nowa Ruda and Kopalnia Słupiec were combined as KWK Nowa Ruda w Słupcu. Szyb Lech served as the primary production shaft from 1868 and from 1975 was converted to a ventilation shaft. On 1 April 1992 the mine was placed in liquidation on economic grounds. The last miners rode to the surface in 1995. Formal closure of all production was completed on 8 February 2000.
The idea of a mining museum at the site was conceived in 1992 by mine employee Czesław Lis, and was supported by the city authorities of Nowa Ruda. The base for the museum was the Training Adit (Sztolnia Ćwiczebna) of the Zespół Szkół Górniczych. A Muzeum Górnictwa was established in 1994 on the Piast mining field. In 1996 the Podziemna Trasa Turystyczna "Kopalnia Węgla Kamiennego w Nowej Rudzie" was opened in sztolnia Lech within the former Piast field. The route, 700 metres in length, includes working machinery and original equipment including a coal-cutting machine, belt conveyors, pneumatic hammers, and ventilation piping. The exit from the underground route is by an electric narrow-gauge mining railway of 430 mm gauge, hauled by a German Jung accumulator locomotive of the 1960s, drawing three four-axle passenger wagons. The current proprietor operates under the name Przedsiębiorstwo Usług Turystycznych "Kopalnia Węgla." Surface structures include the szyb Lech headframe and ventilation fans, described as dating from the 1870s, as well as the historically unique kiln towers used for fireclay calcination. The complex operates under the name Dawna Kopalnia Nowa Ruda.