Roother quarry, Bemelen, Eijsden-Margraten, Limburg, Netherlandsi
| Regional Level Types | |
|---|---|
| Roother quarry | Quarry |
| Bemelen | Village |
| Eijsden-Margraten | Municipality |
| Limburg | Province |
| Netherlands | Country |
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Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):
50° 50' 24'' North , 5° 46' 35'' East
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):
Type:
Köppen climate type:
Nearest Settlements:
| Place | Population | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Sint Antoniusbank | 105 (2017) | 0.9km |
| Bemelen | 355 (2017) | 1.2km |
| Terblijt | 185 (2017) | 1.8km |
| Berg | 120 (2017) | 2.0km |
| Berg | 3,200 (2017) | 2.5km |
Nearest Clubs:
Local clubs are the best way to get access to collecting localities
Local clubs are the best way to get access to collecting localities
| Club | Location | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Vieille Montagne Heritage | Kelmis / La Calamine, Belgium | 22km |
The Roother quarry is a marl quarry in the Dutch municipality of Eijsden-Margraten in South Limburg. The underground quarry is located southeast of Bemelen, southeast of the Mettenberg and west of 't Rooth. The quarry is located on the west side of the Margraten Plateau in the transition to the Maas Valley.
To the east and south of the Roother quarry is the Groeve 't Rooth open-pit quarry.
From 1860, the Roother quarry was mined by farmer Mathieu Bemelmans, but only received a permit in December 1894. The quarry was then called the Moolt or the Rother Kam and was located on the site of the 21st century existing office in the Groeve 't Rooth.
On September 13, 1926, an official report was drawn up at the quarry and the quarry was closed in accordance with Articles 12 and 13 of the Provincial Regulations on the exploitation of underground or covered quarries.
On August 29, 1932, Messrs. Diederen and Visschers obtained a permit from the Provincial Executive to re-exploit the quarry. The entrance to the quarry was located at the office of the later entrance to the open-pit quarry. Carbide lamps provided lighting in the quarry. From December 1942, the quarry was registered as Roothergroeve I, because a new concession was added in the area.
On December 1, 1942, Messrs. Lemmens and Dolhaine obtained a permit to extract limestone in the Roothergroeve II concession area. They then dug a shaft to get limestone blocks above ground. Electricity cables also ran through this shaft to electrically illuminate the underground tunnel system.
In October 1943, the Roother quarry was explored by the German occupiers during the Second World War and was intended to house war industry and storage of materials. From August 1944, the quarry was set up to manufacture a one-man jet aircraft. The liberation put an end to this project at this location.
From June 4, 1946, work began on deepening the Schoorberg quarry I (on the 't Schoor road) to gain access to the Roother quarry (II) via that route. This was felt to be necessary because the access shaft was located increasingly further from the work front and the hoisting via the shaft had a maximum capacity. An approximately 100-meter-long connecting corridor was dug from two sides, from the Schoorberg quarry I and from the Roother quarry. "Mergelgroeve 't Rooth" was painted above the entrance.
From 1949 onwards, the tunnel system of Roothergroeve I was affected by the extraction of limestone in the open-pit quarry by Nekami (later Ankersmit, later Ankerpoort). As a result, the old entrance to the quarry also disappeared into the excavation. With the extraction of limestone in the open-pit quarry, the Roother quarry was largely excavated and the extracted limestone was burned in the nearby lime kilns Kalkoven De Valk and/or Kalkoven 't Rooth. The cut corridors were later closed with covering soil.
Mushrooms were grown in the Roother quarry, especially in the 1940s and 1950s. At the beginning of the 1960s, cultivation in the quarry stopped, and limestone blocks were no longer extracted from the quarry. In August 1964, the last 178 limestone blocks were broken.
In 1981, the quarry was closed off with fencing and was managed as a bat reserve by the Studiegroep Onderaardse Kalksteengroeven ("Study Group of Subterranean Limestone Quarries"), together with the Apostel Quarry and the Koelebos Quarry.
In the Roother quarry the Sibber method was used for block breaking. Most of this underground quarry, approximately 66%, has disappeared due to limestone extraction in the Groeve 't Rooth. Only the northern part of the quarry was preserved. The Roother quarry had a combined floor area of at least 20,600 square meters, of which 9,600 square meters remain.
The quarry is protected as a bat reserve, with the entrance closed with fencing in such a way that bats and other animals can use the quarry.
The quarry is managed by the D.C. van Schaïk Foundation. The quarry was examined for safety and was approved in 2016 and 2017.
The Roother Quarry is carved into the Nekum Limestone (Maastricht Formation).
Commodity List
This is a list of exploitable or exploited mineral commodities recorded at this locality.List of minerals for each chemical element
Other Databases
| Wikipedia: | https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roothergroeve |
|---|---|
| Wikidata ID: | Q95467049 |
Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality
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