Abandoned black coal mine complex at Sečovlje in Slovenian Istria, closed 1972, with decaying surface buildings beside the Sečovlje saltpans.
The Premogovnik Sečovlje black coal mine was opened in 1935 beside the Sečovlje saltpans on the Slovenian Istrian coast, near the road between Portorož and the Portorož Airport. The mine exploited a seam of black coal with high calorific value. Operations were intermittent throughout the mine's working life, interrupted on more than one occasion by flooding of the underground workings.
The mine operated in proximity to the Sečovlje saltpans, and disputes arose between the mining operation and the salt producers: the mine's tunnels extended partly beneath the saltpans, and salt workers claimed that blasting in the mine caused subsidence of the salt fields and reduced salt production. During the Second World War this dispute reached the courts. The mine finally closed in 1972, defeated in part by competition from cheaper oil.
The surface complex — including a coal processing building, coal silos, a mining workshop, a canteen building, administrative buildings, and the remains of a shaft tower — survives in a state of progressive deterioration. Proposals for conversion to a museum, restaurant, or birdwatching observatory have been made but not implemented. The site lies between the main Portorož–Dragonja road, the Dragonja canal, and the Sečovlje saltpans, which are now a nature park and Ramsar-listed wetland.
The black coal mine at Sečovlje, known in Slovenian as Premogovnik Sečovlje or Rudnik Črnega Premoga Sečovlje, was opened in 1935. It was situated on the right-hand side of the main road between Portorož and the Portorož Airport, close to the settlement of Sečovlje in the Municipality of Piran, in Slovenian Istria. The deposit was a seam of black coal distinguished by a high calorific value.
From the outset the mine lay in immediate proximity to the Sečovlje saltpans, one of the most historically significant salt-producing areas on the eastern Adriatic coast. The mine's underground workings extended partially beneath the saltpans. Throughout the period of the mine's operation, disputes arose between the mining company and the salt workers (solinarji). The salt producers claimed that blasting operations within the mine tunnels was causing subsidence of the salt fields, leading to reduced salt production. During the Second World War the dispute between the mine and the saltpans reached the courts. The outcome of the legal proceedings is not recorded in the consulted sources.
The mine's operational history was interrupted on multiple occasions by flooding of its underground workings. These interruptions punctuated the mine's otherwise continuous activity. The mine finally ceased production in 1972, by which point competition from cheaper oil had made it uneconomical to continue.
The surface complex of the mine lies between the main Portorož–Dragonja road, the Sečovlje saltpans, and the Dragonja canal. It includes a number of surviving buildings in states of varying decay: a coal processing building ('čistilnica'), coal silos, a mining workshop building, a canteen and social hall, stone administrative buildings that also incorporated a first-aid station for injured miners, and the remains of a shaft tower — first an iron structure, subsequently replaced by a temporary wooden tower. Adjacent stone buildings were associated with the nearby Parenzana narrow-gauge railway station; the Parenzana route (Trieste–Poreč) is today a cycling and walking path. A coal weighing scale formerly stood outside one of the smaller buildings.
Following closure, the site has been the subject of repeated proposals for adaptive reuse, including conversion to a museum, a restaurant, a birdwatching observatory, or a tourism complex. As of the mid-2010s none of these proposals had been realised, and the complex was continuing to deteriorate. One source from 2023 noted that a resort had been planned on the site. Ongoing concerns were expressed about the site's structural condition and its heritage value. The saltpans adjacent to the mine's former workings are a recognised wetland of international importance, included on the Ramsar List since 1993 and forming part of the Sečovlje Salina Nature Park, established in 1990 and given national protection status in 2001.