Former slate mine shaft at Renazé, Mayenne, where a small metal headframe and treuil building survive at the Laubinière site, the last working quartier of the Renazé ardoisière basin until 1975.
The puits de Laubinière at Renazé, Mayenne, was the terminal extraction shaft of the Laubinière quartier at Renazé, the last quartier to close in the ardoisière basin of Renazé-Congrier, which ceased activity definitively in December 1975. Slate extraction at Renazé is documented from at least the mid-fifteenth century, and the Laubinière sector represents one of the oldest sites within the basin, where open-cast working is considered among the earliest in the area. A second phase of extraction by puits and galleries at Laubinière continued until 1933.
After the workings were drained in 1944, a third phase began in 1946 when the puits de Laubinière was recommissioned. By 1950 all quartiers of the Renazé basin were connected underground, and the puits de Laubinière served as the puits de secours for the active extraction running from the puits de Saint-Aignan 2. The Laubinière sector was the last to cease operations, closing in December 1975.
The Société des Ardoisières de l'Anjou, which had operated Renazé since 1894, finalised the exhaure in March 1976. A small metal headframe and the building of the treuil survive at the Laubinière site and are visible today.
The ardoisière basin of Renazé-Congrier lies in the commune of Renazé and the adjacent commune of Congrier in the southern Mayenne department. Slate extraction at Renazé is documented from at least 1454, when a purchase of ardoise is recorded from Congrier at the neighbouring commune of Méral, and a perrière at Congrier is mentioned in 1450. The Laubinière sector — also referred to as l'Aubinière in some sources — is considered probably the area where the earliest open-cast working in the Renazé basin began.
The principal company operating the Renazé basin was the Société des Ardoisières de l'Anjou, created in 1894, which in 1895 acquired the Ardoisière de l'Aubinière and in 1896 the Ardoisières de la Touche and du Fresne. The same body also operated the Grand'Maison site at Trélazé and other ardoisières in the west of France. The Laubinière sector operated in several successive phases.
A first phase of open-cast extraction is considered among the earliest at Renazé. A second phase of underground extraction by puits and galleries continued until 1933, when this phase ceased. In 1944 the underground workings were drained (dénoyage).
From 1946 the puits de Laubinière was remis en service for a third productive phase. By 1950 all the quartiers of the Renazé basin — Laubinière, La Touche, Saint-Aignan, Longchamps — were connected underground. The puits de Laubinière served as the puits de secours and safety exit for the production running from the puits de Saint-Aignan 2, while later the puits de Longchamp 3 was equipped with a monte-charge to raise the stone extracted in the La Touche and related workings.
The deepest shaft in the basin, at Longchamps, reached 305 metres. The site of Renazé was for a long time the second producer of ardoise in the Ouest (after Trélazé), with annual production reaching up to 100 million ardoises. The decline of the Renazé ardoisière began around 1960, driven by competition from new materials and from cheaper imported slate.
The Société des Ardoisières de l'Anjou pursued activity until the end of December 1975, when the last exploitation at the Laubinière quartier ceased. Exhaure was stopped at the end of March 1976. The definitive closure ended over five centuries of documented slate extraction at Renazé.
In 1979, four years after the final closure, former miners established a musée ardoisier on the site of the former puits de Longchamp 3. The association Perreyeurs Mayennais now manages the site, known as the Musée de l'Ardoise et de la Géologie, allowing visitors to discover all stages of extraction from underground to the splitting of slate. The Laubinière site itself retains a small metal headframe and the bâtiment du treuil, both still visible.
