Surviving coal-mine headframe of Puțul 12 at Mina Lupeni, in the Ștefan neighbourhood of Lupeni, Jiu Valley.
Mina Lupeni — Puțul 12 is a surviving shaft-headframe site in the Ștefan neighbourhood of Lupeni, in Romania’s Jiu Valley coal basin. The record should not retain the generic name Puț de Mină, which simply means “mine shaft”. Documentary references identify Puțul 12 as an important construction objective at Mina Lupeni in the early 1960s, requiring a tower, machine house, electrical equipment and transformers.
By 1966, contemporary press reported that a new machine house had recently been put into operation at Puțul 12. Recent local community projects in Cartierul Ștefan have also referred to the old mine shaft in the neighbourhood, including references to the old Puțul 12 of Mina Lupeni. This record should be kept separate from Mina Lupeni — Puțul Ștefan if field evidence confirms that both headframes survive as distinct sites.
Mina Lupeni was one of the principal coal mines of the Jiu Valley, a mining basin in Hunedoara County that became Romania’s most important underground hard-coal district. Mining at Lupeni developed from the late nineteenth century and continued through the twentieth century as part of the industrial expansion of the valley.
The site recorded under the generic name Puț de Mină is better identified as Puțul 12 of Mina Lupeni. Contemporary local press from 1962 described Puțul 12 as one of the important construction objectives at Mina Lupeni, requiring a tower, machine house, apparatus, switchboard and transformers before it could be handed over for use. This indicates that the shaft was undergoing substantial surface and technical development in the early 1960s. A 1966 report then referred to Puțul 12 al exploatării and stated that a new machine house had recently been put into operation.
The shaft also has a present-day community context. Recent cultural and community activity in Cartierul Ștefan, Lupeni, has referred to the old mine shaft in that neighbourhood. One 2023 report describes events in the area of the old mining shaft in Cartierul Ștefan, while another refers specifically to the old Puțul 12 of Mina Lupeni as the setting for children’s cultural activity under the Valea Jiului Vibrantă programme. The survival of a headframe at this location therefore provides a direct link between the industrial history of Mina Lupeni and the current social memory of Cartierul Ștefan.
This record should remain separate from any existing Mina Lupeni — Puțul Ștefan record if field evidence confirms that the two surviving headframes are distinct. The canonical name should be changed from the generic Puț de Mină to Mina Lupeni — Puțul 12.