Cycle tour through the Leipziger Land - No.2

Part 2 of my cycle tour. On the photo you can see the remains of the open-cast mining: a Bucket-wheel excavator (BWE) and the coal-fired power plant Lippendorf (still operating).

BWEs are among the largest vehicles ever constructed. They have been used in mining to move and mine massive amounts of overburden (waste). They have reached sizes as large as 96 meters (314.9 feet) tall, 225 meters (738.2 feet) long, and as heavy as 14,200 tons (31.3 million lb)! The bucket-wheel itself can be over 70 feet in diameter. The largest BWE ever constructed is TAKRAF's Bagger 293, which is capable of moving 240,000 cubic meters of overburden every day.

In the red circle is San, so you imagine the size difference. This photo (and the next) was taken last summer.

San again ... she marveled at the outstanding engineering.

Chris

Cycle tour through the Leipziger Land - No.1

Last week i visited my hometown Leipzig. Despite bad weather I've made a small cycle tour through the southern Leipziger Land. This region is also called Neuseenland (new-lakes-landscape). It's an old open-cast mine area, which is being converted into a small lake district. It will be finished approximately 2012.

It's a photo of the (new) Lake Störmthal - one of circa 15 new lakes. Final size: 730 hectare.

The extensive mining of brown coal formed the “old” cultivated landscape (agriculturally used area before the mining) with all its living spaces and gave it a new face. There was an empty obviously useless and desolate landscapes left.

Until a few years ago there were the cavities left by open-cast mining - today there is the Lake Cospuden with a new settlement.

The aim is the reclamation of this area for human beings, animals and plants. The efforts and changes of the last fifteen years to reach this aim are surely singular.

But!!! ...there are still open-cast mining in the southern Leipziger Land for which entire villages are excavated into oblivion!

Chris