Agnieszka Gontaszewska-Piekarz

The article describes the application of the artificial ground freezing method for sinking the shafts of the now-defunct Bach lignite mine in Cybinka (Lubusz Province). It was probably the only instance of such a procedure in lignite mining in Poland. The text presents the origins of this method, patented in 1863 by F.H. Poetsch, and the examples of mines where this technique was implemented, with particular emphasis on the Polish lands. The course of freezing the Bach V and Bach VI shafts and the problems that occurred at the very beginning of their exploitation are described in detail. As a result of errors made during the drilling of freezing holes, both shafts were completely flooded with groundwater. The paper also aims to analyse the causes of this mining disaster.

The work describes the discovery of lignite deposits by C.A. Pohlez in 1838 near Zielona Góra that initiated extraction of this mineral coal by several mines.

Exploitation of lignite in Zielona Góra and its neighbourhood was taking place in the years 1841–1948. The article describes only the first years of mining and creation of the Gewerkschaft “Consolidierte Grünberger Gruben”, which embraced almost all mines in the vicinity.

Extraction of lignite was conducted in the Wilkanowo and Słone villages near Zielona Góra, and also in the western part of the city. The text describes areas where particular mines belonging to the Gewrkschaft worked and presents well-known locations of the oldest mineshafts. It also presents available historical maps containing data on mining in the area of Zielona Góra and, on the basis of few preserved source materials and the 19th-century geological and mining literature, certain data concerning employment and the amount of extraction. The article introduces us also to the economic situation of the 19th-century Gewerkschaft.