Rotem slag locality, Rotem, Dilsen-Stokkem, Limburg, Flanders, Belgiumi

Regional Level Types
Rotem slag locality	Slag Locality (Reclaimed)
Rotem	Village
Dilsen-Stokkem	Municipality
Limburg	Province
Flanders	Region
Belgium	Country

Slag dumps of a former zinc smelter that ceased its activities in 1967. The site has been completely recultivated and transformed into an industrial estate.

The Société Anonyme de Rothem was a company that had a zinc plant built in Rotem. The plant was in production from 1913 to 1966.

As early as 1907, engineer Paul Raoult from Liège submitted a request for the construction of both a zinc plant and a plant for the manufacture of sulphuric acid for roasting the natural sulphuric zinc necessary for the manufacture of zinc there. He obtained authorization, upon which the industrialists Henry Regnier-Oury and Théophile Dumoulin submitted another amended proposal in 1910, followed by another amendment in 1911, increasing the proposed production capacity from 10 to 25 kt/year. Eventually, the Société Anonyme de Rothem was founded. The factory was built on a 130-hectare site.

There were favourable transport possibilities via the Zuid-Willemsvaart canal and the Maaseik-Hasselt railroad line. On the site alone, 9 km of railroad were constructed. Construction began in 1912, and in 1913 another labour strike broke out among the builders. They demanded higher wages. Nevertheless, on November 2, 1913, the factory was ready for production. It employed 300 people in the inaugural year, a number that gradually increased to a maximum of 550 workers, making it the smallest zinc smelter in Belgium.

However, World War I broke out, which led to a lack of raw materials, preventing the plant from producing. It wasn't until 1927 that all eight zinc furnaces were in operation. Moreover, it wasn't until 1937 that a sulphuric acid plant was put into operation and the ores could be roasted on-site. Before that time, this was done in another plant, and the roasted ores were transported from there to Rotem. As in Budel, the sulphuric acid plant was nicknamed "the silent death", but such names as "den acide" and "Abyssinia" were also in vogue.

In 1941 the licence for the plant, which initially had a term of 30 years, was extended for another 30 years.

In September 1944, 27 German soldiers who had been raided by the Belgian Secret Army were imprisoned here for some time.

In 1953, the plant was hit by a very prolonged wage strike. It lasted from June 8 to October 19 of that year. The demands were finally met, and the strike was over. There were 400 people working in the plant at that time.

The factory then prospered again, with a profitable peak year in 1959. After that, profits dropped and losses were incurred as early as 1963. In 1966 work at the plant came to an end. Although job advertisements appeared in the same year, the end came unexpectedly on November 6, 1966. The factory was shut down, and the workers were laid off. Only a few could continue to work for another year, but only for the dismantling of the plant.

The site, with its heavily contaminated soil, was remediated starting in 1998; the buildings that still existed were gradually demolished, and new businesses moved in.

A few iconic chimneys remained for many years, until they too were dismantled in 2006. Today, only a small part of the former warehouse still stands. This dilapidated building is still used by a container manufacturing company.

Notes on the mineral list:

Ottenburgs et al. (1998, see link below) claim that all the species they list in their article were adequately identified by XRD, SEM and/or polarized light microscopy. They also list an unspecified Cu-Zn alloy and state that "this is not exceptional since the treated zinc ores included Cu-sulphides. This Cu-Zn alloy appears as rounded inclusions in a silicate matrix."

On the other hand, many of the minerals listed by Fruytier CANNOT be confirmed yet because they were published without proper (XRD, SEM, etc.) analyses (Nautilus 2003-03). Please don't change their status to "confirmed" without mentioning the method of analysis and any article(s) used.

Other Databases

Wikipedia:	https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinkfabriek_(Rotem)
Wikidata ID:	Q2128143

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References