( 76 ) 

 Geology. — "On ore veins in the 'province of Limburg". By Prof. 



A. WlCHMANN. 



(Communicated in the meeting of March 30, 1907.) 



In the spring of 1856 the ex-colonel of the Dutch East-Indian 

 Army P. van Swieten, at the Hague, founded a "Mining Society for 

 the Netherlands" '), which obtained the concession for the mining field 

 "Marie" in the southernmost part of the province of Limburg 2 ), in 

 order to search for coal. After the first borings at Epen and Simpel- 

 veld had remained unsuccessful, the hamlet of Bominerig*), community 

 of Wittem, was taken, where on Oct. 11, 1856, a lode of ore was 

 discovered of 0,80 meter thickness, at a depth of 56,20 M. and 

 consisting chiefly of quartz and galena. Although it was suspected 

 at once that this lode communicated with the one worked at Bleiberg 

 in Belgium, situated to the SSE., yet the working of this lode was not 

 taken in hand because of the great expense, involved in sinking a shaft. 

 After this the Society continued its investigations in other parts of 

 the mining field with insufficient results until it was dissolved after 

 the available funds had been exhausted. 



It has been known for a long time that the devonian and carboni- 

 ferous strata in the environs of Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle), extending 

 mainly from the North-easl to the South-west, are cleaved by faults 

 directed almost perpendicularly to them and which appeared to be 

 of great importance for the formation of ores 4 ). These masses of 

 ores were found sparingly in the devonian system, mostly in those, 

 belonging to the carboniferous limestone and only once — it was 

 thought — in those of the coal-measures, namely at Bleiberg. 



i) Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant, Thursday, May 22, 1856, N'. 140. The 

 foundation act dates from June 11, 185G (Dutch State Gazette, Thursday, July 10, 

 1856 N°. 162). 



2 ) Situated a little over a kilometer to the North-east of Epen and 2 kilometers 

 south of Mechelen. 



3 ) Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant, Thursday, Octoher 16, 1856; N". 286. 

 P. van Swieten. Rapport sur les operations de la Société de Funion minerale 

 pour la Néerlande de 1856 a 1857. Annales des Travaux publ. de Belgique XVI. 



Bruxelles 1857-58 p. 266—267 PI. V. 



4 ) C. Dantz. Der Kohlenkalk in der Umgebung von Aachen. Zeitschr. d. D. geolog. 

 Gesellsch. XLV. 1893 p. 599—683, Taf. 26. W. Schulz. Führer des Berg- und Hütten- 

 lngenieurs durch die Umgegend von Aachen. Aachen 1886, p. 37 — 41 m. Karte. 

 G. Ü. Uylenbrock. Le sud-est tin Limbourg néerlandais. Annales de la Soc. 

 géolog. de Belgique XXXII. Liége 1904—05. M. pag. 151 — 104., PI. V. 



G. Dewalque, Essai de carte tectonique 1. c. PI. IV. 



