Completely demolished former Kempen coal mine at Zwartberg, Genk, where a shaft monument, the protected director's villa, and the Labiomista art park now occupy the former site.
The Steenkoolmijn van Zwartberg was one of seven collieries in the Belgian Kempen coalfield, situated in the Zwartberg district of Genk in the province of Limburg. A concession of 4,180 hectares was granted on 25 October 1906 to the consortium Les Liègeois, led by the Luikse industrial group N.V. John Cockerill. The operating company S.A. pour l'Exploitation de la concession charbonnière des Liégeois en Campine was founded on 26 February 1907.
Shaft sinking began in 1913 but was severely delayed by the First World War; the first coal was reached in Schacht I on 27 February 1920, and full production began in 1925. Both shafts reached a depth of 1,045 metres with working levels at 654, 714, 780, 940, and 1,010 metres. In 1952 a firedamp explosion killed 23 miners.
By 1956 annual production reached 1,416,000 tonnes, its highest level. Peak employment stood at 5,355 workers in 1946. Total production reached approximately 39,902,000 tonnes.
The closure announcement in December 1965 provoked violent protests in which two people were killed. The mine closed on 1 October 1966. Both headframes were dynamited in 1967 and virtually all mine buildings were demolished.
The director's villa was protected as a monument in 2005 and since 2019 forms part of the Labiomista art park.
The Zwartberg coal mine owes its origins to the discovery of coal in the Belgian Kempen by André Dumont in 1901. In 1901 and 1902 three Luikse industrial groups — the N.V. John Cockerill, the coal mines Espérance et Bonne Fortune and Patience et Beaujonc — together with a consortium of local landowners including Théodore Masy, director of several Luikse mines, the industrialist Wittouck, and lieutenant-general Emile Thorn, filed applications for mining concessions under the heathland of the Kempen. By royal decree of 25 October 1906, a concession of 4,180 hectares was granted under Genk, Houthalen, Meeuwen, Gruitrode, Opglabbeek, Niel, and As, enlarged in 1910 to 4,269 hectares.
On 26 February 1907, the S.A. pour l'Exploitation de la concession charbonnière des Liégeois en Campine was founded with an initial capital of 12,500,000 francs divided into 25,000 shares. The first 5,000 shares remained with the founding groups; the remaining 20,000 were subscribed by seventeen shareholders. The principal shareholders were the Mutualité Industrielle, the S.A. John Cockerill, and the coal mines Espérance et Bonne Fortune and Patience et Beaujonc. After successive capital increases, the mine became a division of the S.A. John Cockerill in 1929, and via this company was incorporated into the industrial group Cockerill-Ougrée on 27 June 1955.
Depth soundings were conducted to determine the mine location, reaching as far as 1,162 metres. It was decided to establish the first exploitation seat at Zwartberg, with a second — never realised — working to come later in the northern part of the concession. In 1910 the first buildings were inaugurated including the power station, and a railway connection to the Hasselt-Maaseik line was established. Freezing borings and shaft sinking were carried out from 1913 by the Gewerkschaft Deutsche Kaiser. When the First World War broke out, Schacht I had reached only 193 metres; by 1918 a depth of 480 metres had been achieved. The first coal formations in Schacht I were reached without incident on 27 February 1920 at a depth of 575 metres. Shaft sinking for Schacht II was delayed by a water breakthrough at 318 metres, but on 2 November 1924 the coal measures were also reached in that shaft at 556.20 metres.
Initial exploitation took place between 690 and 840 metres. From 1938, after the shafts had been deepened to 1,050 metres, the working level between 840 and 1,010 metres was brought into use. Both shafts had a useful diameter of 5.25 metres and were lined with cast-iron rings to a depth of 578 metres, with masonry below that and concrete blocks at the lowest section. Schacht I's headframe stood 83.5 metres tall, making it the second tallest in Europe at the time. Full production commenced in 1925. The fat coal extracted was used primarily in the Cockerill blast furnaces at Seraing.
The first workers' housing, the Cité Cockerill of 36 houses, was built in As in 1912 for the workers sinking the shafts, as the concession consortium initially expected the first mine to be sited in As. The main cité for workers and staff — known as the Noorderwijk — was developed immediately adjacent to the mine site from the 1910s, modelled on the Seraing garden suburb. It was divided between a residential zone for office staff around the Cockerillplaats and an opposite workers' quarter centred on the Delcourtplaats.
In 1949, the first air cooling installation in Europe was fitted underground at Zwartberg, where working temperatures reached a constant 44 degrees Celsius. The mine also introduced an internal closed-circuit television system in the 1950s to improve safety. These innovations made Zwartberg known as the most modern and best-equipped mine in Belgium.
Peak employment of 5,355 workers was recorded in 1946. In 1952, a firedamp explosion killed 23 miners. Peak annual production of 1,416,000 tonnes was achieved in 1956. Total production over the mine's life amounted to 39,902,000 tonnes.
On 22 December 1965, the Belgian government announced the closure of Zwartberg together with five Walloon mines. The decision shocked the region: Zwartberg was at that moment the most modern and productive mine in Belgium. Workers occupied the underground shafts from 27 January 1966. During a march from Zwartberg to the Waterschei colliery on 31 January 1966, the mobile gendarmerie opened fire on the demonstrators; Jan Latos, a 27-year-old miner, was shot dead, and Valère Sclep, a 26-year-old worker, died from a tear-gas canister. On 2 February 1966 the Akkoorden van Zwartberg were signed, providing for the orderly redeployment of the approximately 4,500 workers and committing other Kempen mines to absorb the displaced underground workers before recruiting guest workers. The mine closed on 1 October 1966.
Demolition was immediate. In 1967 the two steel headframes were dynamited and virtually all mine buildings were razed. The shafts were capped with concrete slabs. One spoil heap was preserved; the other was exploited over the years and levelled. Remnants of the mine wall and a small technical services building survived on the current industrial estate. The 1959 administrative building has served since closure as a police and emergency services training centre, the PLOT. The director's villa and its twelve-hectare park were sold in 1967 to the Wauters family, who operated a zoo on the grounds for thirty years. After the zoo closed, the city of Genk acquired the property. In 2005 the director's villa was listed as a protected monument and restoration works were supported in 2011. Since 2019 the villa and its grounds form part of Labiomista, an art centre and Cosmopolitan Culture Park created by artist Koen Vanmechelen. A memorial marker, incorporating a sheave wheel, was placed over the concrete slab sealing Schacht II on the current industrial estate.