Along the "fault zone":

as a new type of central shaft the St. Anna shaft was to bring the last Sulzbach-Rosenberg ore deposits to the surface.

Geology and ore deposits

Directly in front of you, over a length of 7.5 kilometres and at a depth of up to 115 metres, the Sulzbach-Rosenberg ore deposits stretched from Neuhof be Häringlohe in the south-east to the village of Kleinfalz in the north-west. Due to a linear geological fault zone between Amberg, Sulzbach and Auerbach, a chain of ore deposits formed relatively close to the earth's surface.

These consisted of upper and lower ore deposits. The upper ore deposits were mined to a depth of 80 metres as early as the Middle Ages, in accordance with the technology of the time.

Mining of the lower ore deposits by Maxhütte

Founded in 1853 in Haidhof near Burglengenfeld, Eisenwerksgesellschaft Maximilianshütte - Maxhütte for short - built another ironworks in Rosenberg in 1863.

As an ‘integrated steelworks’, Maxhütte aimed, from the very beginning, to combine ore extraction, pig iron production, steel production and rolling mill facilities. For this reason, the first of a total of six shafts was built in Etzmannsberg as early as 1865.

Exploitation of the last ore deposits

Due to its favourable economic development, Maxhütte's demand for ore increased steadily. For this reason, plans were made to mine the last known ore deposits in the ‘Galgenberg’, ‘Schützenheim’, ‘St, Georg’, ‘Großenfalz’ and ‘Eichelberg’ mines. The Anna shaft was chosen as a location outside the ore deposits.

Mining the remaining ore around the old shafts

The previous shafts in the Großenfalz, Fromm, Etzmannsberg and Karoline mines had all been sunk within the ore field. One advantage of this was that it was not necessary to drive any or only short tunnels to the ore extraction sites. Another advantage was that it was possible to avoid sinking the shafts in the areas outside the stable ore fields, i.e. in the sometimes very unstable geological layers.

The disadvantage of the previous shafts, however, was that a sufficiently large area of valuable ore had to be left around them to prevent them from collapsing - the so-called ‘safety pillars.

Due to its location far outside the ore fields, the Anna shaft safety pillar consisted of earth and stone; ore for mining was no longer blocked. When planning the mining in the ‘Galgenberg’, ‘Schützenheim’ and ‘St. Georg’ sections, a safety pillar for the pilgrimage church of St. Anna also had to be considered.

Due to the planned function of the St. Anna shaft as the main production shaft, all previous shafts were to be replaced, and their safety pillars made of ore.