Former hard coal mine shaft in Ensdorf, the last operating surface point of the Bergwerk Saar, whose 35-metre 1917 headframe over the Saarschacht survives in the Duhamel Park along with the listed machine house now housing an interactive heritage exhibiti
Schacht Duhamel at Ensdorf is the founding extraction shaft of what eventually became the last coal mine in the Saarland. The shaft originated as the Saarschacht, begun in 1913 by the Preußische Bergverwaltung as a new Hauptförderschacht for the Grube Kronprinz Friedrich Wilhelm; the 35-metre headframe was completed in 1917. After the First World War, the French administration renamed the shaft in honour of the Saar-born French engineer Jean Baptiste Duhamel, and in 1925 the mine became the independent Grube Duhamel.
In 1957 Grube Duhamel was merged with Grube Griesborn to form the Grube Ensdorf, which by the 1970s had become the most productive colliery in western Europe. The Duhamelschacht served as Seilfahrt- and Materialschacht throughout the mine's operational life; it also gave its name to the adjacent Bergehalde, known popularly as the Mont Duhamel or Monte Schlacko. After the closure of the Bergwerk Saar in June 2012, the Duhamelschacht site was converted into the Duhamel Park.
The Tagesanlagen built up to 1925 — substantially intact — are listed under Denkmalschutz. The denkmalgeschützte Maschinenhalle now houses the interactive heritage exhibition Bergbau. Unser Erbe.
The Saarschacht was begun in 1913 at the Ensdorf surface complex of the Grube Kronprinz Friedrich Wilhelm, a mine with roots going back to 1815 in the Prussian state coal administration. The earlier Ensdorfer Stollen of 1842, which had served as a coal transport route to the Saar for decades, was finally closed in 1910, making a new main hoisting shaft essential. Sinking of the new Saarschacht commenced in 1913; the 35-metre Fördergerüst was completed in 1917. The First World War delayed full commissioning.
After the First World War, the Saargebiet passed under French administration and the Mines Domaniales Françaises de la Sarre took over all state mines. In 1920 the mine was renamed Grube Griesborn and the Saarschacht was renamed Duhamelschacht in honour of Jean Baptiste Duhamel, a Saarland-born French engineer and figure of the Napoleonic administration. By 1925 the Tagesanlagen of the Duhamelschacht site were substantially complete in the form they would retain for the rest of the mine's life. On 1 January 1925 the Grube Griesborn was divided into the independent Gruben Griesborn and Duhamel. The surface buildings erected by 1925 at the Duhamelschacht — including the Fördermaschinenhaus with its 1918 twin-cylinder steam winding engine (later used between approximately 1918 and 1927) — are today listed. The machine house's listed Dingler Fördermaschine Duhamel-Ost of 1918, an impressive twin-cylinder steam engine, survived into the post-mining period as a listed technical monument.
In 1935 the German administration returned; from 1936 the Deutsche Verwaltung and later the Saargruben AG administered the mine. In 1957 the Saarbergwerke AG, constituted on 30 September 1957, merged the Gruben Griesborn and Duhamel into the Grube Ensdorf. The Duhamelschacht was the surface Seilfahrt- and Materialstandort of the merged mine. In 1965 the shaft was sealed (gesümpft) and extended deeper by 1966 to 662 metres. In 1967 an underground Durchschlag to the Grube Ensdorf was completed; in 1991 a Durchschlag to the Grube Göttelborn followed. In 1975 to 1978 the Barbarastollen, a 3,500-metre Schrägschacht overcoming a height difference of 610 metres, was constructed to transport coal from the Nordfeld at 1,400 tonnes per hour. The Duhamelschacht continued to handle Seilfahrt and materials.
The Bergwerk Saar was formed on 1 January 2004 from the merger of Bergwerk Warndt/Luisenthal and Bergwerk Ensdorf. In 2007 the mine yielded approximately 3.5 million tonnes of Flammkohle with a daily average of about 14,400 tonnes. A 4.0-magnitude Gebirgsschlag on 23 February 2008 prompted an Abbaustopp ordered by the Saarland state government. Production ended in June 2012. The Duhamelschacht was thereafter converted for Grubenwasserhaltung (mine water management); a RAG press release in 2020 confirms that the Schacht Duhamel is being converted to Brunnenwasserhaltung and will be filled.
The Bergehalde of the Bergwerk Saar alongside the Duhamelschacht, known as the Mont Duhamel or Monte Schlacko, is with approximately 140 metres the highest Halde in the Saarland. Since 2004 it is publicly accessible and used by Gleitschirmflieger; in 2005 it hosted the Kunstprojekt Kunst auf der Halde, which includes the 15-metre Himmelsleiter. The Tagesanlagen complex at the Duhamelschacht site was converted into the Duhamel Park, opened as a public space; the denkmalgeschützte Maschinenhalle now houses the interactive exhibition Bergbau. Unser Erbe. alongside the RAG Repräsentanz in Ensdorf and offices of the Landschaftsagentur Plus.