Johannesschacht Mine, Wölsendorf, Schwarzach bei Nabburg, Schwandorf District, Upper Palatinate, Bavaria, Germanyi

Regional Level Types
Johannesschacht Mine	Mine (Abandoned)
Wölsendorf	Village
Schwarzach bei Nabburg	Municipality
Schwandorf District	District
Upper Palatinate	Administrative District
Bavaria	State
Germany	Country

Grube Johannesschacht (or Johannesschacht mine / Johannes shaft mine), also called the Johannesschacht pit

Notes on operation:

The following pits were active at the Johannesschacht mine:
Weiß'sche Grube, Grube Leher Bühl, Grube Staatsbruch, Grube Staatswald, Fischerbruch, Grube Pfeiffer and Weberbruch. Another pit, the Irlentrath, was planned, although not implemented.

Johannesschacht had one of the few processing plants in the Wölsendorfer district, and raw material from other mines was also delivered there.
These were: Grube Max, Grube Hanns and the Lissenthan exploration pit. Therefore, not all specimens labelled as ‘Johannesschacht’ are necessarily from the Johannesschacht mine, it may be that they actually originate from one of the neighbouring mines. However, specimens collected from the dumps or from the surface areas around Johannesschacht are often given the name ‘Halde der Grube Johannesschacht’ (Johannesschacht mine dump) or ‘über Tage Fund Grube Johannesschacht’ (surface find at the Johannesschacht mine).

The deposit:

The Johannesschacht mine had the following levels:
- Wölsenberger Gang, later called North-South Gang and then Barbaragang.
- Wölsendorfer Gang, later called Nord-West-Gang and then Rolandgang.
- Wölsendorfer Gang, later called Nord-West-Gang and then Johannesgang.
- Naabrankengang and north aisle.

Geology:

Fluorspar and baryte deposit in medium grain granite.

In 1929, it was reported that coarse ‘stinkspar’ (https://www.mindat.org/min-30325.html) was also found up to a depth of 28 m. Uranium minerals were only encountered from a depth of 18 m.

In 1931 stinkspar was observed in cubes, octahedra, rhombic dodecahedra and in combinations of octahedra with cube.

In 1967 Dr. Heinz Ziehr of Regensburg stated that the stinkspar occurs almost only in coarse, mostly finely crystalline formation and that crystals are rare.

Additionally, in 2000, dark yellow honeydew fluorite crystal cubes up to 10 cm were reported from the Johannesschacht mine.

Pitchblende (uraninite) has also been found in recent years from surface heaps of the Rolandgang level at Johannesschacht. These surface heaps are known under the name of the Naabanger Forest Department.

Historical timeline of the Johannesschacht mine (formerly Weberbruch):

2nd October 1925 - Georg Bauer reported in a letter to the Amberg Mining Authority that he proposed to unlock the fluorspar deposits on land numbers 987 and 987 1/3 by means of two shafts (a main shaft plus a ventilation shaft). At the same time he officially registered the operation and work started soon after. Joh. Wittmann from Wölsenberg was named as the operations manager and shafts were sunk initially to 34 m with a 32 m level dug between them. Regular fluorspar extraction began in 1927 until 1929.

1926 to 1929 - Johannesschacht was extended up to about 63 m and a 60 m level was also driven to the NW and SE.

1929 - Johannesschacht closed.

1931 - The Bauer company met with a hard blow when a night fire destroyed their brick and ceramic factory building in Stulln. This prompted Hans Bauer to sell his other businesses and, on 5th November 1932, all of his fluorspar pits, as well as the processing plant and the grinder at the Wölsendorf train station, were sold to the company "Rheinische Fluß- und Schwerspatwerke GmbH" (Ludwigshafen), often just called the Rhine River Company. This was the last mention of the Bauer company in connection with fluorspar mining, but Hans Bauer's proceeds from the sales enabled him to build a new brick and ceramic factory building in Stulln.

1932/33 - The Rhine River Co. put the Johanness shaft back into operation with Hermann Hudel as the new operations manager. The pit/mine was now popularly called Hudelbruch.

19th July 1939 - The Rhine River Co. also acquired the Pfeiffer mine which, along with the Staatsbruch mine and the Barbaraschacht, were connected to the Johannesschacht mine workings via the 60 m level of the Johannesschacht mine. This was possible because the Pfeiffer mine was located between the Staatsbruch mine and the Johannesschacht mine. Official documents show that from 1940, with a few exceptions, the Johannes- und Barbaraschacht mine was named as a single operation.

1940 to 1945 - During the Second World War the pits Johannes- and Barbaraschacht, as well as Marienschacht, Roland, Erika and Cäcilia, were mined heavily and at some time during this period the Johannes shaft was further sunk to 90 m and then to a 115 m level. In 1941 the company "Fluoritwerke GmbH" (Frankfurt) was named as the owner, although in 1943 the owner is named as F. W. Dohm with 72 workers and usable extraction is listed at 10,189 tons.

1947 - "Flußspatwerke GmbH, Wölsendorf Mine Management” was named as the owner. Raw fluorspar production in 1949 was 2,630 tons (with 1,675 tons of saleable fluorspar) and baryte production was 101 tons.

1950 - The following information is given for the Johannesschacht: Wölsendorf mine owner - "Flußspatwerke G.m.b.H.", U.S. Administration (under Allied control). The plant manager was listed as Hermann Hudel 1952 - Allied control was removed and in the same year the Johanness shaft was further sunk from 115 m to 145 m.

5th January 1955 - The miners' association Johannesschacht Wölsendorf was founded, but it was dissolved again with the closure of the Johannesschacht.

1957 - "Flußspatwerke GmbH" took over the Max and Hanns mines from the "Wundsheimer Bergbau GmbH" with fluorspar extracted from both mines processed in Wölsendorf at the Johannesschacht mine. "Flußspatwerke G.m.b.H.", Frankfurt (Main) took over operation of the fluorspar pits at Johannesschacht, Max and Hanns as well as others in the Upper Franconia and Donaustaufer areas.

1958/59- The Johannesschacht reached its final depth at around 163 m, to which a 160 m level was connected.

1959 - The Lissenthan exploration pit started operations in the town of the same name. This fluorspar was also processed in the Johannesschacht mine.

1960 - Karl-Heinz Holl took over the management of all mines, but on 30th June 1961 the Wölsendorf mine (Johannesschacht), along with the Staatsbruch and Pfeiffer mine, were shut down due to unprofitability and the Lissenthan exploration operation was also closed. Processing continued, however, for the Hanns mine and for the Max mine.

31st March 1962 - the Hanns mine was closed and processing was now only used for the Max pit.

31st December 1964 - the Max mine was sold to the "Flußspatwerke Schwarzenfeld GmbH, formerly Anton Kallmünzer" and the raw fluorspar obtained was then processed in the Cäcilia mine from January 1965. This meant that the processing at the Wölsendorf mine (Johannesschacht), which was still in progress, became superfluous, and it was immediately shut down.

1965 - The shaft structure and the loading bunker at Johannesschacht were demolished.

1966 - The site, including the underground mining area, became privately owned, with Wolfgang Forster, Schwarzenfeld, being named as the owner.

1st January 1970 - Flußspatgrube Wölsendorf-Marienschacht was sold to "Flußspatwerk Schwarzenfeld GmbH, formerly Anton Kallmünzer" and subsequently fluorspar mining at the locality continued under the name Grube Wölsendorf. A tunnel was dug from the 150 m level of the Marienschacht mine to the former site of the Staatsbruch mine, but the Johannesschacht pit site itself was bypassed because it was now privately owned. Mining continued on the Johannesgang level in the old Pfeiffer mine, but over the course of the next few years other mines in the area gradually ceased operations and were dismantled.

30th June 1979 - Mining at the Marienschacht mine, Pfeiffer and Staatsbruch also ceased and decommissioning work commenced immediately. By 1980 operations to close these mines were complete with the shafts filled, buildings torn down, and the former mining sites eventually became overgrown with vegetation.

2016 - The abandoned Johannesschacht was finally secured.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References