Former Lorraine rock-salt mine at Einville-au-Jard with surviving metal headframe, puits, and underground galleries maintained in preservation by the Compagnie des Salins du Midi et des Salines de l'Est.
The Mine de sel d'Einville-au-Jard, formally known as the mine Saint-Laurent, is a closed rock-salt mine in the Meurthe-et-Moselle at Einville-au-Jard, approximately 30 kilometres east of Nancy. The concession of the Sablonnière and Saint-Laurent-Charmel at Einville, covering 1,089 hectares, was obtained in 1872. The associated company, the Société Anonyme des Mines de Sel gemme et saline d'Einville Meurthe, had deposited its statutes in 1871.
A shaft was sunk from 1871 to 1876, reaching 126 metres depth in the deepest exploitable salt seam, where extraction by the abandoned-pillar method began in 1887. In the early twentieth century the mine ranked fifth among the salines of eastern France and employed up to 200 workers. In 1922 a majority of the company's capital passed into that of the Varangéville salines.
Extraction of rock salt ceased in 1953, the ignigène saline ceased in 1962, and all activities were definitively terminated in 1965. The puits with its metal headframe, winding machine, and double cage, and the mine's underground galleries extending to approximately 6 kilometres, survive. The site is maintained by the Compagnie des Salins du Midi et des Salines de l'Est, with monthly inspections focused on water management.
In 2018 responsibility passed to the DREAL.
The basse vallée du Sânon around Einville-au-Jard offered conditions for industrial salt exploitation from the late nineteenth century, following the construction of the canal de la Marne au Rhin in 1853, which provided access to coal for evaporating and to markets for the finished salt.
In 1870, two competing companies sought to exploit the salt deposits under the commune of Einville-au-Jard: the Société Hannezo (later Saline Sainte-Marie, then Saline d'Einville), and the Société Colombier, which would develop the mine Saint-Laurent. The statutes of the Société Anonyme des Mines de Sel gemme et saline d'Einville Meurthe were deposited in 1871, and the company is sometimes referred to as the association De La Ruelle et Colombier. The concession of the Sablonnière and Saint-Laurent-Charmel at Einville, covering 1,089 hectares over the communes of Einville, Raville, Valhey, Bienville and Bonviller, was formally obtained in 1872.
A shaft was sunk from 1871 during four years of construction, completing in 1876. The sinking traversed four salt seam formations between 104 and 126 metres depth. On 15 May 1875 a saturated brine inflow of 300 litres per minute at 8.5 kilograms per square centimetre pressure was encountered at 103.30 metres; this brine was used by the associated saline. Full underground exploitation in galleries 10 to 15 metres wide and 4.5 metres high began in 1887 in the deepest and purest seam at 126 metres depth. In the first year of underground extraction, 35,000 tonnes of rock salt were raised and despatched to the Solvay soudière at Dombasle.
Before the First World War, around 1908, the Saint-Laurent mine occupied fifth rank among the eastern French salines, producing 8,500 tonnes of ignigène salt and 48,000 tonnes of rock salt per year with a workforce of approximately sixty. The mine possessed its own small barge fleet of three towed boats for canal transport. In 1902 a narrow-gauge railway connecting Einville to Lunéville, 10 kilometres away, entered service; its industrial siding to the port of Einville remained in use until 1942. The pits and galleries were electrified from 1917. In 1888 the Saint-Laurent saline had supplied 30,000 tonnes of salt to the Solvay works at Dombasle.
In 1922 a majority of the capital of the Saint-Laurent saline passed into that of the Varangéville salines, and the combined enterprise entered a period of expansion that brought the workforce to up to 200 before the Second World War.
From the 1950s the operation declined as the Société Salinière de l'Est began absorbing the salines of the Sânon valley. Extraction of rock salt from the mine ceased in 1953. The ignigène salt production of the associated saline ceased in 1962, and a portion of the surface buildings were demolished. All remaining activities were definitively terminated in 1965. The 99-year concession was not renewed. Workers displaced from the Saint-Laurent mine transferred to Varangéville, and a bus service between Einville and Varangéville ran until 1993 for former personnel.
Following closure, the site passed to the Compagnie des Salins du Midi et des Salines de l'Est at Varangéville, which undertook its maintenance and surveillance. The metal headframe of the mine shaft, a drum-type winding machine, and the double cage descending to approximately 127 to 144 metres depth survive on the site, together with the underground galleries extending to approximately 6 kilometres. Responsibility for the site transferred to the DREAL (Direction Régionale de l'Environnement, de l'Aménagement et du Logement) in 2018. Monthly inspections are carried out, principally to monitor and manage water ingress. The mine is not open to the public. Visible from the exterior are the metal headframe, the former régie building where a salt tax was collected until 1946, and a building formerly used for the denaturisation of agricultural salt. The headframe is listed among France's surviving mine headframes.
