Mining leaves a mark behind it. Dealing with this legacy is not only a tremendous challenge for us here in Germany, but internationally too.
Unlike any other facility in the world, the Research Center of Post-Mining is where we attend to the issues that emerge as mining activity ceases. We conduct interdisciplinary investigations into the best ways to organize the complex tasks surrounding the closure of mines and their subsequent use – all with a particular focus on the aspect of future potential. The Technische Hochschule Georg Agricola, University (THGA) in Bochum provides the perfect starting point for exploring the post-mining environment.
What post-mining means
We improve the conservation of materials, helping industrial culture to be preserved and put to new uses. To this end, we work closely with materials scientists from the German Mining Museum in Bochum.
We monitor the post-mining process by employing cutting-edge monitoring methods. Here we use satellite data, 3D models and deep-sea probes as well as historical maps.
We not only identify the challenges, but also the available opportunities, and our activities include developing ideas for the intelligent subsequent use of former mining sites.
We establish the scientific basis for a sustainable water management concept in former mining districts – both on the surface and in the underground.
Post-mining encompasses everything that takes place following the actual extraction of minerals and raw materials. It is a wide-ranging field, providing plenty of substance for exciting, engineering-based research. We investigate post-mining in all its many facets, while completely rediscovering the potential it has to offer. And the findings we arrive at here, also contribute to making future mining processes more environmentally-friendly and sustainable.
Our research focuses
Perpetual tasks
and mine water management
Geomonitoring
in post-mining
Material sciences
for the preservation of industrial heritage
Land Use & Transition
Questions about post-mining
Mining leaves traces that you can rediscover in our Pixi book "The Post-Mining Detectives".
Together with the three friends Jade, Ruby and Peter, you will explore a former mining area. There is a lot to find out here: How is the environment? What is happening to the water? And what are the suspicious people doing at the headframe? Become a post-mining detective yourself: In our handicraft template you will find the pin badge for young explorers to print out, paint and craft!
