Waterschei Coal Mine (Thor Park)

The coal mine of Waterschei was one of seven mines in the Kempen coal basin. This Kempen mining headquarters was located in the Waterschei district of the Belgian city of Genk.
The concession to exploit coal was granted on August 1, 1906 under the concession name André Dumont-sous-Asch, 2950 hectares in size, expanded in 1912 to 3080 hectares. The capital of the exploitation company, Société anononyme André Dumont-sous-Asch, later shortened to Charbonnages André Dumont, was mainly in the hands of Belgian companies and wealthy Belgian industrialists.
Coal was first mined in 1924 at depths at 560, 647, 700, 807, 920, 980 and 1040 m depth. In 1949, employment was at its maximum - 6834 miners. The peak year in terms of production was 1968 with 1,490,700 tons. Total production was 72,453,000 tons.
The mine was closed on September 10, 1987.

There is also a winding tower in Thor Park on the old mine site. Today it is used for events. When we were there today, a techno festival was taking place. Unfortunately, the diversion from No. 508 was not clearly visible and we accidentally drove 2 km in the wrong direction and then turned around.