Viewpoint of Hambach Open-Pit Mine

The Hambach opencast mine is one of three remaining active opencast mines in the Rhenish lignite mining area. It is the largest lignite mine in Europe and is located in the middle of the lignite mining area between the municipality of Niederzier and the town of Elsdorf. The Hambach opencast mine was started in 1978 near the Niederzier district of Hambach and is over 350 meters deep. 1.35 billion tons of brown coal are stored beneath its 85 square kilometer mining field. Around 40 million tons of coal are mined every year.

You do not see much from here! Without a telephoto lens you can not take any reasonable pictures from here. Bring binoculars!

At 299 m below sea level (as of 2018), the Hambach opencast mine is the deepest open-cast mine in Germany: de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_der_Extrempunkte_Deutschlands#K%C3%BCnstliche_Erhebungen_und_Vertiefungen From the viewing platform you have a great overview of the open-cast mine and can see the huge excavators. It's impressive even without binoculars, but with them you can see even more details. In the other direction begins the Speedway, a former long-distance conveyor belt for the overburden.