Small is successful? How small mining towns tackle the problems left by mining

Peter Wirth, Leibniz Institute of Ecological and Regional Development (IOER), Dresden 

Can the World Heritage List  protect South America's greatest mine?

Mining is an ambivalent issue for the affected towns and regions. In times of exploitation of mineral deposits the regions profit from the economic revival. Employment, growth, prosperity and a high prestige are going hand in hand with the extraction and milling of natural resources. Later, when mining comes to an end, the towns and regions get to feel the consequences of decline. Unemployment is coming up, poverty  and social problems emerge, environment is polluted, image is "black", and a lot of people leave without prospects.

Problems like these concern large and small towns, central and peripheral regions, in the same way. The authors decided to address  their investigations to small towns and peripheral regions because the destiny of this type of mining areas receives mostly low consideration by policy and research. In the project READY the development results of 17 small mining towns in six Central European countries were investigated. The finding is that only five of the towns achieved higher-thanaverage success in shaping new perspectives after mining. On the one hand this makes clear the dimension of the problems to be tackled. 

On the other hand the question is: Why are some towns more successful than others?

Gräfenhainichen in Germany and Bad Bleiberg in Austria represent the "successful group" of mining communities. In Gräfenhainichen, lignite mining started at the end of the 19th century and came to an end 1990. In Bad Bleiberg lead was extracted over hundreds of  years, ending in 1993. Although both municipalities were hit hard by the negative impacts after the closure of mines, they tackled their problems in an outstanding way. In Gräfenhainichen (8,000 inhabitants in 2004), the new town perspective is based on the emergence of two large lakes as a result of opencast lignite mining. Five decommissioned excavators form an event arena on a peninsula in one of the lakes, called Ferropolis. The idea was that this "city of iron" could become the nucleus for further town development. The town set on tourism, culture, recreation, and quality of life as developmental factors – with Ferropolis as a highly visible advertisement for the project.

In Bad Bleiberg, a small municipality with only 2,800 inhabitants (2004), mining legacies are used for spa tourism purposes. In 1951, a thermal water leakage from one of the pits laid the foundation for a thermal-therapeutic spa. Together with the stimulating climate of the high Alps valley above ground and the healthy climate below, Bad Bleiberg co uld start a new career as a spa resort. In 2005, a new spa centre was erected. The attraction of the spa is an old mining gallery with dust-free atmosphere for patients with lung diseases, directly accessible from the spa by an elevator. The research project provides a set of answers to the question of successful structural change: Two factors are of special importance. Firstly, in the successful cases, leading actors like mayors could create the required capacity for  action by forming core actor groups and wider networks. They are thus in a position to assemble the resources needed for formulating and implementing innovative strategies. Secondly, in the cases of success the mining legacies – often seen as an obstacle for further development – were revaluated and involved in new attractive projects. The mining heritage was interpreted as a chance for the future and its potential maximised.

The results of research allow partly a problematic and partly an optimistic prospect. The problematic prospect is that most of the mining towns are not characterised by a climate of innovation. Often they remain in a style of thinking and acting which is still  connected to the "good old days". In such milieus, which are mostly persistent, it is hard to go in new ways. The optimistic perspective is that small mining towns are not doomed under bad development conditions. As the examples show, there are options to overcome decline and to create new perspectives.

The article is based on the author's presentation at the XIV TICCIH Congress and draws on the results of the development and research project "Rehabilitation and Development in Mining Regions" (READY),funded by the EU  NTERREG III B programme from 2004 to 2007. Partners from six European countries (Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Romania and Slovakia). Basic research in Bad Bleiberg was done by the Karl Franzens University (KFU) Graz, Institute of Geography and Regional Science.

Photo: Gräfenhainichen. Event arena Ferropolis with decommissioned excavators as scenery. (Photo: IOER)