Thread: Ardennes Coticule mine.

I have had an e-mail from Rob Celis. We were talking about the sources or possible sources of older Coticules. He was telling me that Ardennes Mine was called Burton Rox before the Cellis family bought it.
Burton Rox actually closed in 1990 but was the sole active mine after 1960.
He said there were hundreds of little family mines up till about 1940.
I thought you all might be interested. I'll keep you posted about any info I get.
I love a bit of history

my pleasure Sir.

They were all closed down during WW2 probably, since few people had the money to spend on luxury.
And when WW2 ended, noone would have had the money to invest in opening up the old mines. There would have been virtually no demand, and the risk of failure was too big if you already had to scrape to make enough money to buy something to eat.

SPR member Joelski was so kind to give me a copy of a little booklet, written in French by one Charles Gaspard, about the coticule history. Joelski and I have been planning a translation thread for the little booklet (about 40 pages), but I've yet to launch the call for volunteering translators. (I wish a day had more hours in it)
Anyway, Mr. Burton, the previous owner of the Ardennes Coticule mine is mentioned in this booklet. There is also a phrase about 3 other mines, still operational when Gaspard wrote his booklet in 1971 or 1974 (not sure).
Here's a excerpt. Excuse my rusty French-English translation.

Il subsiste actuellement quatre sièges d'extraction des pierres à rasoir: un à Salmchâteau, un sur "les plats" (entre Bihain et Hébronvalle, commune de Bihain), un "à houl'pé" (commune de Bihain) et un "ol preû",a Regné. Certes, les commandes ne font pas défaut, eu égard aux propriétés exceptionelles et irremplaçables de la coticule, mais les quelques patrons-exploitants qui, jusqu'a de jour, ont maintenu lear activité, prennent de l'âge; le recrutement d'ouvriers spécialisés devient pratiquement impossible, tandis que les jeunnes préfèrent accorder leur main-d'oeuvre à des activités garantes d'un avenir mieux assuré. (...)

There are, at present, 4 sites left where razor hones are extracted: one in Salmchâteau [now a museum], one on "les plats" (in between Bihain and Hébronvalle, commune of Bihain), one "à houl'pé" (commune of Bihain) and one "ol preû", in Regné. [this is not entirely correct, "ol preû" is the site where Ardennes Coticule quarries today, this is several miles from Regné, where Ardennes Coticule owns another (presently closed) mine] There is surely no shortage the orders, due to the exceptional and irreplaceable properties of the coticule, but the few owners-miners left today, that have continued their activity, are becoming aged. The recruitment of specialized work forces has become practically impossible, because younger people like to invest their labor into activities that guarantee a more secure future. (...)

I've visited most of those sites, and found the remains of the former coticule mining activities. There are many former mining pits in the wider Vielsalm area. Some are closed for the public, but many are freely accesible (extremely high risk for collapses, though).

Bart.

Coticule is a by product of slate quarrying in the Ardennes. Mr Celis told me it is a nice little earner but the big money comes from slate and raw material for sewage pipes etc. that is made of the smaller fragments that remain after the controlled explosions.

I once posted a link to a nice web page about the older quarries.
I cannot find that site with Google. there used to be a feature on SRP to view al the threads started by a certain member. If anyone knows how I can access that feature it will get us a lot of additonal information.

http://www.timbertools.com/Images/coticule2.wmv

Originally Posted by Doc

http://www.timbertools.com/Images/coticule2.wmv

That is Ardennes Coticule: I was there 2 years ago, great experience. Bought my hone there.

Originally Posted by Kees

Coticule is a by product of slate quarrying in the Ardennes.

It's true that Maurice Celis manages to keep his business profitable by selling almost everything else he quarries in order to get to the coticule. Slate is not among it. They produce natural building stones made from the blue schiste in which coticule layers are embedded. (It 's the same material as the Belgian Blue Whetstone) He also sells clay with very high mangane content to the brick baking industry for the production of black bricks. And he sells most of the other debris to a firm that produces "gres" drainage pipes. Even so, I feel it may sound a bit disrespectful to call coticule the side product. Historically there were many slate mines and quarries in that same region. But as far as I know, those and the coticule mines always were separate things. Putting all the other stuff to use, is an idea of Celis. It's a good thing he thought of that. Otherwise, the only coticule available would be what one can shovel up on the spot.

Bart.

Originally Posted by Bart

It's true that Maurice Celis manages to keep his business profitable by selling almost everything else he quarries in order to get to the coticule.
Bart.

Proving once more the old adage that one man's trash is another man's treasure.

Originally Posted by Bart

It's true that Maurice Celis manages to keep his business profitable by selling almost everything else he quarries in order to get to the coticule. Slate is not among it. They produce natural building stones made from the blue schiste in which coticule layers are embedded. (It 's the same material as the Belgian Blue Whetstone) He also sells clay with bery high mangane content to the brick baking industry for the production of black bricks. And he sells most of the other debris to a firm that produces "gres" drainage pipes. Even so, I sounds disrespectful to call coticule the side product. Historically there were many slate mines and quarries in that same region. But as far as I know, those and the coticule mines always were separate things. Putting all the other stuff to use, is an idea of Celis. It's a good thing he thought of that. Otherwise, the only coticule available would be what one can shovel up on the spot.

Bart.

Hi Bart,

Thanks for your input. Maybe my memory is playing tricks on me. I always thought schist and slate are the same.