To protect the workers at Geothermie Delft during the installation of the conductor, the statue of Saint Barbara was placed on the Rotterdamseweg last Monday. Saint Barbara is known as the patron saint of miners and many other dangerous professions. We spoke to Leendert Jan Ursem, Drilling and Operations Manager at Geothermie Delft, about this tradition in mining.
Who is Saint Barbara and how did this tradition originate?
Saint Barbara is commemorated every year on 4 December. She is considered a patron saint against fire, lightning and sudden death, making her the patron saint of several dangerous professions, including miners. This holiday grew to become the feast of miners in the Limburg mining region. When the mines there were still open, Saint Barbara was celebrated exuberantly every year.
After the closure of the last Limburg coal mine in 1992, some of the Barbara customs disappeared. However, many (former) miners still celebrate Sint-Barbara, as for example at the Mijnbouwkundige Vereeniging in Delft. The Mijnbouwkundige Vereeniging is the study association for all TU Delft Bachelor, Master and PhD students of Technical Earth Sciences. Nowadays, the holiday is celebrated in a slightly different form, such as, for example, geothermal projects instead of the former (coal) mining activities.
Why was the statue placed at Geothermie Delft?
Leendert Jan: "According to tradition, a statue of Barbara is placed before new mining activities take place. As geothermal activities also take place in the deep underground, geothermal energy also falls under the Mining Act. At the Geothermie Delft site, work started last week to place the conductors , which go about 72 metres into the ground. These are a kind of tubes that function as conductors during the actual drilling process. Officially, the placement of the conductors is therefore not considered drilling, but this work in the subsurface has to be done safely as well, of course. Because of this, we want to want to place the statue now. This is because the statue will protect the staff who are carrying out this work."
What did the ceremony look like?
The statuette was placed by Barbara Cox of Aardyn in a niche at the side of the pit cellar. Once both conductors are placed in a few weeks, the Saint Barbara statue will be temporarily removed again. Once GTD officially starts drilling the production well, expected in late March, there will be a larger opening ceremony to which a larger audience will also be invited.
After the placement of the statue, the "Glück Auf" song was sung by the audience. This is an international mining song, which is also sung in other countries during mining operations. The saying "Glück auf" is also used as a greeting to miners among themselves, and literally means "happy return to the surface".
Who were present?
Members of the Mijnbouwkundige Vereeniging, employees of the GTD project and (former) students of TU Delft attended the ceremony. Leendert-Jan: "From the GTD project, Barbara Cox, geophysicist and Subsurface Manager at Aardyn, was also present. Barbara herself is also from the mining region in Limburg and was also named after Saint Barbara by her parents. This unique link made her the person of choice to place the statue in the pit." Furthermore, Marc Peijenborg, overall project leader, was present to explain the project goals and the GTD consortium. This important milestone could not have been achieved without the hard work of the GTD realisation team.
