Vahlberger Zug mine, Rothemühle
In the vicinity of Rothemühle is the Vahlberger Zug, on which the Hauptlöh and Vahlberg mines once built. The corridor means, which are worth building over a length of approx. 400 m, reached a thickness of 10 m in places.The Vahlberg mine was initially owned by the Drolshagen monastery, which had to sell the mine again in 1790. The mine changed hands more frequently in the period that followed. In 1851 the first machine shaft in the entire Siegerland-Wied district was sunk here. Nevertheless, the mine had to be closed for the time being in 1856 due to sales difficulties. It was only after the Finnentrop-Olpe railway line was built in 1875 that the Hauptlöh and Vahlberg mines began operating jointly under the name of Vahlberger Zug. A new machine shaft reached its final depth of during the First World War
360 m. At that time almost 500 miners were employed in the mine.
In 1921 the mine was finally shut down. The Vahlberger Zug mine is one of the most famous mineral discovery sites in the southern Sauerland. Beautiful rhodochrosite and malachite levels are particularly well known. There are also good specimens of “brown glass head” (goethite), bulbous and leafy crystallized lepidocrocite and spherical quartz concretions, the so-called “mountain eggs”, more frequently in the collections. The middle of the vein led to a depth of 160 m brown iron stone, then increasingly siderite with quartz as the main vein. Galena and chalcopyrite collapsed.

Historical postcard from Vahlberg.
This postcard shows the pit
Vahlberger train during operating hours.
Archive: Horst Günter Koch /
Henry Weskamp, Burbach.

Workforce at the Vahlberger Zug mine around 1910. Private photo archive.

Malachite on Limonite. Image width: 2.8 mm. Collection: Matthias Reinhardt.

Malachite on Limonite. Image width: 2.8 mm. Collection: Matthias Reinhardt.

Malachite on Limonite. Image width: 25 mm. Collection: Matthias Reinhardt.

Malachite on Limonite. Image width: 5.8 mm. Collection: Matthias Reinhardt.

Cuprite in limonite druse. Historical level. Image width: 9 mm. Collection: Dr. Eckhard Scholl, Kreuztal.

Rhodochrosite on limonite. Historical level. Image width: 3.4 mm. Collection: Dr. Eckhard Scholl, Kreuztal.

Copper steamed on limonite. Historical level. Image width: 3.8 mm. Collection: Dr. Eckhard Scholl, Kreuztal.

Malachite in limonite. A very nice find! Image width: 32 mm. Collection: Matthias Reinhardt.

Delafossite as small gray-black balls. Image width: 3 mm. Collection: Matthias Reinhardt.

Quartz crystals as sugar-like overgrowths on siderite crystals. Image width: 6.2 mm.
Collection: Matthias Reinhardt.

Cuprite octahedra sit in rows on digenous copper. Image width: 3 mm. Collection: Matthias Reinhardt.

Emerald green brochantite crystals next to water-clear quartz crystals. This is rarely found in the dump material of the Vahlberger Zug mine. Image width: 3 mm. Collection: Matthias Reinhardt.

Another feast for the eyes: radiant malachite! Image width: 9 mm. Collection: Matthias Reinhardt.

This stockpile find is a specialty. Copper tree with a length of 13 mm!
Collection: Matthias Reinhardt.

Rhodochrosite together with ged. Copper. Historical level. Image width: 13 mm.
Collection: Dr. Eckhard Scholl, Kreuztal.

Malachite on Limonite. Image width: 22 mm. Collection: Matthias Reinhardt.

Lepidocrocite on limonite. Image width: 63 mm. Collection: Josef Dreier, Herdorf.

Delafossite which is transformed into goethite at the tips. Image width: 8 mm.Collection: Matthias Reinhardt.

Quartz on siderite. Image width: 5 mm. Collection: Matthias Reinhardt.

Siderite. Image width: 5 mm. Collection: Matthias Reinhardt.

Delafossite on quartz. Image width: 0.6 mm. Collection: Matthias Reinhardt.

Quartz. Image width: 8 mm. Collection: Matthias Reinhardt.

Delafossite with a thin goethite patina. Image width: 5 mm. Collection: Matthias Reinhardt.

Delafossite with a thin goethite patina. Image width: 5 mm. Collection: Matthias Reinhardt.

Delafossite with a thin goethite patina. Image width: 5 mm. Collection: Matthias Reinhardt.

Delafossite with a thin goethite patina. Image width: 5 mm. Collection: Matthias Reinhardt.

Delafossite with a thin goethite patina. Image width: 5 mm. Collection: Matthias Reinhardt.

Delafossite with a thin goethite patina. Image width: 5 mm. Collection: Matthias Reinhardt.

Delafossite with a thin goethite patina. Image width: 5 mm. Collection: Matthias Reinhardt.

Delafossite with a thin goethite patina. Image width: 5 mm. Collection: Matthias Reinhardt.

Delafossite with a thin goethite patina. Image width: 5 mm. Collection: Matthias Reinhardt.

Delafossite with a thin goethite patina. Image width: 5 mm. Collection: Matthias Reinhardt.
