Grube Malapertus Niedergirmes · Hessen · Germany

The history of Grube Malapertus begins with the award of concession rights for the extraction of manganese ores in the field of Malapertus on 10 February 1852 by the Königliches Handelsministerium in Berlin. The rights were granted to the mining entrepreneur Philipp Heyl of Weyer. The mine lies north of Niedergirmes on the southern flank of the Simberg, at 211 metres above sea level, on the outskirts of what is now the city of Wetzlar in the Lahn-Dill region.

Extraction commenced in 1860, but was conducted by open-cast methods and small shafts only, and never yielded significant quantities. In 1875 the site produced approximately 300 tonnes of manganese ore — its largest single-year output in this period. The Buderus'sche Eisenwerke purchased the mine in 1872 and undertook a series of exploratory borings in subsequent decades; none succeeded in establishing a commercially viable ore body. On 31 December 1913 the mine was formally abandoned for the first time, as it had never achieved continuous or profitable production.

From 1912, Buderus had taken a parallel and ultimately more durable direction: a large limestone concession was acquired at Niedergirmes in direct adjacency to the ore field and a limestone quarry — the Kalkbruch Niedergirmes — was opened. Its purpose was to supply the Sophienhütte and its cement works in Wetzlar with raw material. In 1913 a shaft was sunk adjacent to the quarry face. In 1914 an exploratory adit for brown iron ore was driven from the Lahn valley, simultaneously serving as a Wasserlösungsstollen (drainage adit). In 1919 a transport tunnel towards the Sophienhütte was driven; in 1922 a second tunnel connected the workings to the adjacent Kalkbruch Hermannstein to the north.

In 1923, following low demand in the limestone market, Buderus again suspended quarrying operations and briefly resumed manganese ore extraction. In 1925 the old Maschinenschacht was back-filled. Between 1927 and 1928, a new Maschinenschacht was sunk on the Simberg on the basis of survey work: first a 32-metre raise was driven from the underground Tiefbausohle, a 37-metre surface borehole was drilled to meet it, and then the connection was broken through and the shaft reamed downward. The new shaft entered service in February 1928. A new Maschinenhaus was built alongside it and the shaft was equipped with winding cages and a drum hoisting machine. All manganese ore working ended definitively in 1931.

From 1931 onwards, the site functioned exclusively as a limestone operation. In 1934 the Kalkbruch Niedergirmes and the Kalkbruch Hermannstein, together with the underground workings, were consolidated under the single bergaufsichtliche designation Grube Malapertus. Underground limestone extraction continued until 1957, after which it was replaced by large-scale open-cast methods; from 1956 the Kalkbruch Hermannstein was the principal supply source for the cement works. During the Second World War the underground chambers were used for protected storage under the Luftschutz programme, and in 1943 a staircase was installed from the surface down to the Tiefbausohle. At the peak of wartime employment, up to 140 workers were employed in the two quarries. Limestone from both quarries was transported by Förderband (conveyor belt) through the existing tunnels of the Grube Malapertus directly to the cement works; annual output was approximately 600,000 tonnes in 1986, with remaining reserves estimated at around 15 million tonnes.

In early 2003 the HeidelbergCement AG group acquired the Zementwerk Buderus and with it the Grube Malapertus. The two quarries ceased production in 2008 and the cement works closed permanently on 31 December 2010, together with the mine. A Wasserlösungsstollen continues to drain groundwater from the two flooded quarry pits.

The Förderverein Grube Malapertus e.V. was established in 2011 and holds the site on lease from the owner, Heidelberger Sand & Kies GmbH. The steel headframe of the Maschinenschacht — noted as one of only two surviving headframes in the entire Lahn-Dill mining region — stands on the Zechengelände at 211 metres above sea level and is visible from a considerable distance. The former Maschinenhaus houses the original early-twentieth-century hoisting machine with its wooden drum. The Förderverein is restoring the hoisting installation with a view to enabling personnel descent through the shaft for the first time in its history, pending regulatory approval; as of the mid-2010s, the Regierungspräsidium Gießen had issued the necessary permission. Surface guided tours are available; underground-only tours had been temporarily suspended pending restoration work. The mine entrance staircase of 1943 currently serves as the main pedestrian access to the underground workings. The Kalkbruch Niedergirmes is not in the custody of the Förderverein and is not publicly accessible; it hosts a construction-rubble (Bauschutt) Deponie. The steep north-west wall of the former quarry, directly below the headframe, requires stabilisation works by backfilling to halt ongoing rock movement.