Staatsmijn Maurits was a state-owned

coal mine Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

Geleen Geleen (; li, Gelaen ) is a city in the southern part of the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg in the Netherlands. With 31,670 inhabitants in 2020, it is part of the municipality of Sittard-Geleen. Geleen is situated along the river Gele ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. In 1911 the Dutch Government bought the concessions "Maasvelden". In 1912 and 1913 drillings were carried out by the Internationale Bohrgesellschaft Erkelenz in the areas west of the Staatsmijn Emma and

Staatsmijn Hendrik The Dutch State Mine (DSM) Hendrik, in Dutch Staatsmijn Hendrik, was a coal mine located in Brunssum. It was run by the Dutch state through its company DSM. The mine was in operation from 1915 until 1963, when it was integrated with DSM Emma. DSM ...

concessions. Drillings were made at the towns of

Lutterade Lutterade (; li, Lötterao ) is a district of Geleen and later Sittard-Geleen (a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands, in the province of Limburg Limburg or Limbourg may refer to: Regions * Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in ...

, Krawinkel and

Schinnen Schinnen (; li, Sjènne ) is a village and a former municipality in the province of Limburg, the Netherlands. It is home to US Army Garrison Schinnen, a support base for US personnel assigned to nearby Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum. It i ...

. Additional shallow drillings were made near

Urmond Urmond is a village in the Dutch province of Limburg. It is located in the municipality of Stein. The village was first mentioned in 1153 as Ouermunte. The current name means "mouth of the Ur", however the Ur has later moved to village. Urmond de ...

. In 1915 it was decided to position the mine at Lutterade, Geleen. Railways were constructed for connection with the railway

Sittard Sittard (; ) is a city in the Netherlands, situated in the southernmost province of Limburg. The town is part of the municipality of Sittard-Geleen and has almost 37.500 inhabitants in 2016. In its east, Sittard borders the German municipali ...

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...

. In 1916 it was decided to name this 4th State Mine "Maurits", after 17th century

stadtholder In the Low Countries, ''stadtholder'' ( nl, stadhouder ) was an office of steward, designated a medieval official and then a national leader. The ''stadtholder'' was the replacement of the duke or count of a province during the Burgundian and H ...

Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange Maurice of Orange ( nl, Maurits van Oranje; 14 November 1567 – 23 April 1625) was ''stadtholder'' of all the provinces of the Dutch Republic except for Friesland from 1585 at the earliest until his death in 1625. Before he became Prince o ...

. In 1916, construction of the shafts was begun and the mine was taken in production in 1926. In 1947 the mine was connected to the Emma Mine by a 13 km straight tunnel. In the second half of the 1940s and in the 1950s the mine was expanded, and mining reached a depth of 810 m. A third shaft was completed in 1958. At the time of completion of the third shaft, the Maurits mine was the largest two-shafts mine in the world. It was the largest coal mine in the Netherlands. When in the beginning of the 1960s the economic tide for coal mining turned, it was already anticipated to close the Maurits as one of the first mines. The mine was finally closed down in 1967. The surface facilities were afterwards demolished. Directly adjacent to the mine site,

DSM DSM or dsm may refer to: Science and technology * Deep space maneuver * Design structure matrix or dependency structure matrix, a representation of a system or project * Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ** DSM-5, the fifth ed ...

had already decades before started with cokes production and gasproduction. The "Stikstof Bindingsbedrijf" (SBB - or "nitrogen bonding plant") became the locus for the next step in the history of DSM: it became (and still is) a large chemicals company.

External links

* http://citg.tudelft.nl/?id=18387 Coal Mining in the Netherlands (

Delft University of Technology Delft University of Technology ( nl, Technische Universiteit Delft), also known as TU Delft, is the oldest and largest Dutch public technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. As of 2022 it is ranked by QS World University Rankings among ...

) Coal mines in the Netherlands Buildings and structures in Sittard-Geleen {{LimburgNL-geo-stub