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Off the Beaten Track

Content image: Off the Beaten Track

We recently uncovered a specimen of botroidal marcasite and siderite from Hector Mine near Ibbenbüren in Münsterland (North-West Germany).

The specimen itself is typical of the "schalen" or shell type ore formations distributed across this area famous for both coal and metal ore mining, with an attribution date of 1921.
 

Marcasite & Siderite - Hector Mine, Ibbenbüren, Germany (FOV 2cm)

 

Personally I had not heard of Hector Mine (Grube Hector) and online research of all the usual places only revealed references and mineral lists, no information or pictures of other specimens.
 

Minerals Listed at Hector Mine (Mindat/Mineralienatlas)
Aragonite
Baryte
Bornite
Goethite
Marcasite
Melanterite
Pyrite
Quartz
Siderite

 

It has not been possible to find any dates for the mine so far but the research did turn up some wonderful information about the narrow gauge railway and cable way that operated at Schafberg.

From this we do know that Hector mine was working and connected to the railway as early as 1886 and by 1912 connected underground to another coal mine 7km away, so the railway stopped. 1921 is the date of the specimen.

A brief history of the Ibbenbüren Railway

The narrow gauge railway line at Schafberg (Plateau) above Ibbenbüren ran to Laggenbeck .

It transported ore from the Friedrich Wilhelm Mine to the Permian Mine and further to the Perten Stollen, where it joined the Perm railway. The eastern section ran from the Hector Mine to the Permian mine. 

The gauge for the line was 750 mm, and it was built in 1885, fell from use in stages between 1900 and 1912.

There is a super article with lots of information and photographs via the Ibbenbüren Museum webpage linked below (written in German, but use translate - it is well worth a read)

 

What is slightly hard to understand is that with such a huge engineering and mining operation there is only one mineral specimen easily viewed online?

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