February - The Mining History Centre
Lewarde, France
On 21 December 1990, the Nord-Pas de Calais coalfield nationalised mining company closed the last coal mining shaft, bringing the curtain down on three hundred years of history which had begun at Anzin in 1720.
When the activity was at its peak between the 1930s and 1960s, an average of 200,000 people were employed to extract around 30 million tons each year.
Work at the colliery began in 1931. During the first year, 18,634 tons of coal were extracted. Production peaked in 1963, at more than 440,000 tons. The seams were narrow, rarely more than a metre wide. This made mining them unprofitable, and the activity was discontinued in 1971.