Former Prussian fiscal potash mine at Bleicherode East, with the complete Schacht I surface complex surviving and accessible, now operated for underground industrial waste disposal.
The Kalibergwerk Bleicherode, operated by the Prussian state under the designation Fiskalisches Kalibergwerk Bleicherode, was one of the largest and most technically significant state-owned potash mines in the Südharz district. Sinking of the first shaft, Schacht I — also known as von Velsen I — began on 1 August 1899 between Bleicherode and Kehmstedt; its production infrastructure was in service by April 1902 and syndikat production began on 1 October 1902. Schacht II (von Velsen II) was sunk from 2 May 1908.
Two further shafts, the Althans I and II in Kleinbodungen (later renamed the Althans shafts), were added from 1911 and completed in 1913. The Bleicherode works produced a total of approximately 84 million tonnes of raw salt. During the Second World War the underground workings were used for aerospace research relocated from Peenemünde, and in early 1945 the rocket scientist Wernher von Braun was based here.
Potash production was discontinued in 1990. The works were subsequently acquired by NDH-Entsorgungsbetreibergesellschaft mbH for underground waste disposal, a use that continues. The complete Schacht I surface complex is accessible and is documented as a central monument of the German potash industry.
The Kalibergwerk Bleicherode was a Prussian fiscal undertaking operating on a concession area of 64 consolidated Grubenfelder in the Gemarkungen of Bleicherode, Kehmstedt, and surrounding communities. The fields were consolidated in 1899 and bounded in the east by the Nordhäuser Kaliwerke fields Deutschland III and IV, in the south by the Gewerkschaft Glückauf-Sondershausen, in the southwest by the Kaliwerk Ludwigshall, and in the west by the Kaliwerk Sollstedt and the Deutsche Kaliwerke and Neubleicherode. In 1909 the overall field was divided into seven individual fields.
Sinking of Schacht I, formally designated von Velsen I after the Prussian Oberberghauptmann Gustav Julius von Velsen (1847–1923), began on 1 August 1899 between Bleicherode and Kehmstedt. The shaft intersected the potash horizon and the winding installation entered service in April 1902. On 1 October 1902 the production of milled hard salt entered syndikat distribution. The von Velsen I shaft head complex, built by the Prussian state to a high architectural standard, is the only surviving ensemble from the Prussian state potash industry with largely original interior fittings. The group includes a boiler house, machine house, pithead baths, offices, and workshops.
On 2 May 1908 sinking of Schacht II (von Velsen II) began at a site working through an analogous geological sequence to Schacht I. In July 1911 work on a new shaft began in the Gemarkung Kleinbodungen; a second Kleinbodungen shaft was started in early December 1911 and completed in August 1913. The extraction level at Kleinbodungen I was set at 614 metres depth and at Kleinbodungen II at 621 metres. Both Kleinbodungen shafts later received the designation Althans (after another Prussian mining official), and the first of these constitutes the canonical Schacht Althans I of the TSV input. Surface installations at both von Velsen and Kleinbodungen sites included mill buildings for grinding the hard salt, raw salt warehousing, and rail connections. The von Velsen site additionally housed an electrical generating centre and a chloride-of-potash processing plant.
A Craja sub-field was developed separately: the Craja I shaft sinking began in February 1911, reached its final depth of 570 metres and the potash seam at the end of 1912. Craja II began sinking in December 1912, intersected the potash at 575 metres, and reached its final depth in December 1915. An underground connection between Craja I and Craja II was achieved, satisfying the two-shaft requirement, and both entered the Deutsches Kalisyndikat.
During the Second World War significant events unfolded at the Bleicherode workings. After the Royal Air Force bombing of the Heeresversuchsanstalt Peenemünde on 17–18 August 1943, parts of the rocket development programme were relocated to Bleicherode. In the first months of 1945 Wernher von Braun and the principal group of rocket scientists formerly stationed at Peenemünde were based at Bleicherode. American forces occupied the area first; after they withdrew in favour of the Soviet forces, the Russians assembled numerous German rocket specialists at Bleicherode. In 1947 the rocket research centre was transferred deep into the Soviet Union, where the programme eventually led to the launch of Sputnik in 1957.
Total raw salt production over the life of the mine amounted to approximately 84 million tonnes, until potash extraction was discontinued in 1990. A commission of mining specialists convened in 1993 reviewed the site.
In 1991 early remediation and backfilling measures were put in hand. The Fördermaschinen-Gebäude at Schacht I sustained serious damage in an accident on 16 October 1990, and reconstruction work was begun as one of the priority actions of the Entwicklungsgesellschaft des Landkreises Nordhausen (EGN). In October 1995 the mine was sold to NDH-Entsorgungsbetreibergesellschaft mbH (NDH-E), ending any prospect of a public museum use and redirecting the site definitively to underground waste disposal purposes. It continues to be operated in this capacity. The surface complex at Schacht I (von Velsen I) in Bleicherode East is documented as a central monument of the German potash industry and is listed as accessible. The Bergmannsverein Glückauf Bleicherode, refounded on 18 June 1996, maintains the mining heritage tradition at the site.