The development of the mine ‘Lucherberg I’ began in 1902 between the Lucherberger Berg and the Merödgen estate. It will be known to later generations as ‘the mud lake’ – under today’s Goltsteinkuppe.

The overburden was removed, and coal was mined, initially by hand with shovels and lorries, but now with a bucket chain excavator, a shovel excavator and two overburden excavators.

Strong springs ensured a large inflow of water into the open-cast mine. This was initially pumped out but became more and more. Attempts were made to extract more coal in the higher area towards the orchard, but the yield was too low.

Stockpiling of the Goltstein hilltop in 1960 by the 746 spreaders. This was formerly the swamped and exhausted Lucherberg I opencast mine. Next to the railway track, the belt road can be seen, which was used to dump 9 million cubic metres of overburden from the Inden I opencast mine.

This aerial photo from the early 1960s shows the Goltsteinkuppe. The village of Lucherberg and Lake Lucherberg are in the foreground.