Emma

Production 1911 - 1973: 109.032.000 ton.

Locality of mine site: Hoensbroek.

Number of shafts: 4.

The mine was first designed with 2, then expanded to 3 (1939), then 4 (construction started 1947, completed 1956)

Shaft 1 and 2 were shafts with cages, for transport of coal and people.
Shaft 3 was for coal transport, but utilized a socalled skip. This was in fact a big steel box, that can carry 10 - 25 ton coal at a time. With the cage system, only a maximum of 8 tons can be transported every time. The loading of wagons in the cage was more time consuming, and there was more steel to be hoisted up every time. Shaft No. 3 was also used for ventilation (outgoing air).
Shaft No. 4 was located in the village of Schinnen, some km's from Hoensbroek,
Shaft 4 was designed for ventilation, and lowering filler stones. These were necessary for fillings of abandoned stopes that were not allowed to collapse. Later shaft 4 was re-equipped for transport of people.
The ventilation system used shafts 1, 2, and 4 for inlet of fresh air, whereas shaft no. 3 was used for drawing out polluted air.

The Emma Mine was the second largest coal mine in the Netherlands. Only the Maurits mine (to which it was in later days connected by a 13 km straight tunnel) was larger. In 1963, the Emma mine became connected to the Hendrik mine at Brunssum/Rumpen, at some 5 km distance.
Measured at the surface, the underground area of the mine extended from the mine location at Hoensbroek to Hoensbroek Castle to the south, than westwards to the villages Nuth, and Schinnen, and northeastwards via the villages Puth and Oirsbeek back to the mine site. This is an area of some 7235 hectare.
The Emma employed at its heights 10.000 people, of which there worked 6000 underground. The Emma North Field was never exploited, and remains a strategic reserve until today.

The Emma mine produced mainly coal for industrial purposes. The mine was connected to a cokes factory located near the village of Beek (closed 1968).