Vy-lès-Lure coal mines

The coal mines of Vy-lès-Lure are a mining extraction site in eastern France, located in Haute-Saône, in the hamlet of Grange du Vau between the communes of Vy-lès-Lure and Mollans. The site experienced two periods of activity: the first between 1826 and 1905, following the granting of a concession in 1842; and the second during the 1940s by the Bureau of Geological and Geophysical Research (BRGG). The Keuper coal was primarily used to power boilers employed in concentrating brine at , particularly at Gouhenans, which owned the Vy-lès-Lure concession between 1879 and 1925.

Remnants of this activity (mine entrances, spoil heaps, and a mining village) still exist in the early 21st century.

Location The concession covered an area of 973 hectares, primarily distributed across the communes of Vy-lès-Lure and Mollans, but also including Amblans and Genevreuille. Extraction took place on the border between Vy-lès-Lure and Mollans, in the hamlet of Grange du Vau located 25 km east of Vesoul, in the department of Haute-Saône, within the French region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté.

Geology The coal deposit exploited is part of the Keuper coal basin of Haute-Saône. It consists of a stratiform layer dating from the Upper Triassic. The coal-bearing terrain is characterized by clay shale and black marl. The thickness of the seam varies between 0.55 meters and 1.10 meters, and its depth ranges from 3.50 meters to 67.35 meters. The seam dips at an angle of 8% toward the south.

The coal consists of 10.09% ash, 12.96% moisture, 24.29% volatile matter, and 52.66% carbon. The coal is of soft type, and the coke derived from it has a metallic appearance.

History

Discovery Exploration work was undertaken by two different groups of entrepreneurs around 1826 on outcrops located 1.2 km apart. On January 8, 1828, the partners Ferrier from Luxeuil and Klengk from Vy-lès-Lure submitted a concession request, which remained unanswered.

In 1839, a shaft 19 meters deep was sunk by Messrs. Ghautier and Company in the commune of Mollans, 700 meters southwest of Grange du Vau. It revealed coal seams 65 cm thick interspersed with 15 cm of clay, enabling a concession request. That same year, they were authorized to sell the coal extracted from exploratory work, but not yet to begin commercial exploitation.

This company and its competitor had also previously dug four other shafts. In October 1838, a 13-meter-deep shaft (5.5 meters of which was a sump) reached a seam with a thickness varying from 66 to 80 cm at a depth of 7.5 meters. This shaft included a 30-meter-long adit intersected by five others. Another shaft, 22 meters deep, struck coal at 17.5 meters and had an adit 10 meters long. On April 17, 1837, another shaft dug to a depth of 28 meters encountered three seams of 5, 16, and 32 cm. It was abandoned the following June. Finally, a shaft named Conrad, dug by another group, collapsed at 23 meters depth.

Concession

The concession was granted on August 10, 1842, to Messrs. Favre, Conrod, Sallot, and Didier, but no exploitation took place before 1853 due to the bankruptcy of Ghautier's company. The Sallot company resumed work on a rectangular shaft 19 meters deep (1.7 meters by 1.9 meters in section), giving access to a square timbered adit 72 meters long, intersected by another adit 10 meters long. The seam was 70 cm thick. Mr. Ghautier demanded 4,000 francs in compensation for the work already carried out, but Mr. Sallot offered him 460 francs. On August 13, 1853, the concession was sold to Messrs. Tissot and Couvreux. It was subsequently resold in 1856 to Mr. de Grimaldi.

From 1856 to 1860, coal was extracted from the Sallot and Gauthier shafts as well as from the Saint-Jean adit. In 1856, 1,012 tons of coal were extracted. From 1896 to 1906, the Driole and Misère shafts and the Sainte-Barbe adit were the active mines. Between 1854 and 1902, eighteen shafts less than 20 meters deep and twelve boreholes between 10 and 70 meters encountered coal. In 1858, four-fifths of the production was used by the to evaporate brine. The four concessions of Vy-lès-Lure, Gouhenans, Athesans, and Saulnot were merged by presidential decree on March 14, 1879, to exploit coal.

In December 1899, the 91 mine workers, including 30 miners, went on strike over a wage reform. On July 23, 1900, the construction of a 10 km narrow-gauge railway between the mines and the Magny-Vernois station by the Société des Salines, Houillères et Fabriques de Produits Chimiques de Gouhenans was declared of public utility. Until then, coal used by the saltworks had been transported by wagon to this station. The 5 km track was completed in 1901, at which point annual production rose to 12,300 tons compared to 9,445 the previous year, with a workforce of 112 workers, including 84 working underground. In 1904, the Driole sector was exhausted, and production fell to 7,585 tons compared to 10,016 the previous year. Workforce numbers also declined from 79 to around 50 workers. Daily wages ranged from 2 to 6 francs for adults and 1.75 to 2 francs for young apprentices (galibots). Of the 1904 production, 282 tons were sold (mainly to Jura saltworks), while the rest was blended with two-thirds Anzin or Bruay coal to fuel the Gouhenans saltworks’ furnaces. In 1905, 6,900 tons were produced and entirely consumed by the saltworks before mining operations at Vy-lès-Lure were abandoned in favor of restarting operations at Gouhenans and Saulnot. This decision was taken by management due to the poor quality of the coal, the cost of its transportation, and the unsuccessful exploration of new workable zones. At that time, 45 workers were employed at Vy-lès-Lure.

In 1923, Mr. Gaillard, the representative of the Mining and Industrial Company of Gouhenans, submitted a request to relinquish the concession. This relinquishment was decreed on February 17, 1925.

Revival

To cope with shortages caused by the Occupation, new explorations were launched by the Bureau of Geological and Geophysical Research (BRGG) between 1942 and 1943; as in other small basins that escaped the occupier’s production quotas. Forty-five reconnaissance boreholes and an extraction incline were dug during this period. The incline was dug 5 meters from the edge of the Driole woods with a 30° slope and struck coal at a depth of 5 meters, southeast of the Saint-Jean fault. Mining operations lasted from 1942 to 1944 to supply the Gouhenans saltworks. The Gémonval concession was also revived, but not the one at . The fuel, present in an 80 cm thick seam, was extracted via side drifts measuring 10 to 50 meters in length on either side of the main aditt down to a depth of 20 meters. In 1942, production averaged 20 tons per day (or 800 kg per worker) and 5,000 tons for the full year. The coal was loaded into trucks before being used in the saltworks’ boilers. From December 1942 to January 1943, 350 tons were extracted, with the production rate falling to 7 tons per day.

Post-mining In 1998, the Bureau of Geological and Mining Research (BRGM) studied the mining remnants as part of Operation 97 G 344. The aim was to determine whether safety or decontamination measures were necessary; this ultimately proved not to be the case. Remnants remain and are listed in the report.

Works

Mine shafts +List of ShaftsExcavation PeriodNameDepthThickness of the SeamRemainsLocationFrom 1837Old shaftsOvergrown woodland and holes, one of which measures 3 meters in diameter and 2 meters deep.1854Ghautier shaft18 m55 cmA hole blocked by branches and a flat spoil heap.1900Misère shaft13.6 m70 cm1902Driole shaft18.5 m55 cmA long and narrow spoil heap.?Gannot shaft8 m75 cm?Sallot shaft9 m? mA small spoil heap.?Sainte-Barbe shaft? m? m

Adits +List of AditsExcavation PeriodNameLengthRemainsLocation1857–1860Saint-Jean adit224 m1898Sainte-Barbe adit>85 mTwo spoil heaps1942Inclined adit260 mA spoil heap of 3,000 m³ measuring 120 × 50 × 5 meters, a stone wall of 12 × 4.3 meters, and a trench 50 m long and 2 m deep at the entrance.

Boreholes +List of BoreholesDateNumberDepthSeam Thickness1857129.1 m80 cm1857212.2 m60 cm1857369.9 m100 cm1858412 m80 cm1858527.1 m70 cm1860625.5 m85 cm1860770.8 m110 cm1903845.05 m5 cm1903944.85 m50 cm19031010.75 m65 cm19031112.3 m30 cm19031218 mnegative19421310.15 m70 cm19421412 m70 cm1942155.4 m75 cm1942166 mtraces1942174 m75 cm1942189.4 m65 cm1942194.3 mtraces1942203.5 m75 cm19422110 m65 cm19422210 m70 cm1942236 m1942246.4 m70 cm19422511.6 m100 cm1942266 m75 cm19422711 m80 cm19422812 m80 cm19432911.7 m? cm19433022.9 mtraces1943-194431 to 45??

Vy-lès-Lure coal mines

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