COAL-MINING IN BELGIUM

Mining is much less important today than it was in the past. The deposits of iron ore, lead, and zinc that were important in the early days of industrialization are now exhausted, and coal production has declined steadily from an output of 30,000,000 metric tonnes (29,526,000 tons) in 1955 to only 7,200,000 metric tonnes (7,086,000 tons) in 1976, and 2,487,000 metric tonnes (2,448,000 tons) in 1988.

 The coal is found in five principal basins: the Borinage Basin, the Central Basin, and the Charleroi and Liege basins, which are all located in the Sambre-Meuse valleys, and the Campine Basin, located near the Netherlands border. Of all the coal mined today, 85% comes from the Campine. The coal remaining in the coalfields of the Sambre-Meuse Valley is found in thin beds broken by faults and at depths of 1,200 m (4,000 ft) and is much more costly to produce than Campine coal or coal brought into Belgium from West Germany or the United States. Most of the coal is used to produce coke for local smelters and gas. The leading quarry products are limestone, which is used mainly for cement; lesser amounts of sand, gravel, and porphyritic rocks, which are used mainly for road pavements; and blue freestone and decorative Belgian marble for the building industry.