Meuselwitz Coal Mine Fire to Be Contained by Three-Year Earth-Cover Project

An underground coal‑seam fire continues to burn on a former open‑pit mining site near Meuselwitz in Thuringia, Germany. The Lausitzer und Mitteldeutsche Bergbau‑Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH (LMBV) reports that the blaze, covering about eight hectares, remains active after a month and is creating new hotspots.

LMBV plans to first dampen the surface of the fire zone with roughly 200,000 m³ of water drawn from the nearby Restloch Zipsendorf, conveyed via two temporary four‑kilometre pipelines. After the water treatment, a permanent cover of about two metres of earth will be placed to cut off oxygen and fully extinguish the fire. The firebreak around the area has been widened to 30 m and is equipped with a sprinkler system; continuous monitoring is carried out with drones and thermal imaging. The entire capping operation is expected to take around three years. The surrounding Restloch area and the Rusendorfer See are not affected and will not require further remediation.