„It is all about coal“ – Part 2: „Underground“
Youth researched on 1.10.2026 in in the coal mine Premogovnik Velenje/Slovenia, 157 meters „underground“. How did mining in the region start? What code of honour unites the ‘mates’? What does jumping over a leather apron mean? How coal extraction works today in Velenje – at a rate of around 20,000 tonnes a day – and how this quantity is put to immediate use. Three lakes, up to 100 metres deep, have now formed across a total of 50 kilometres of mine tunnels – how? What it feels like when a tunnel collapses – in a simulated scenario – in complete darkness. How a second holiday was added to that of the patron saint, Saint Barbara. How much longer coal mining is expected to continue in Velenje.
A research in the mining museum Velenje, with the mining engineer Aleš Rehar. As part of „Jugend schreibt“ (Youth writes) with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung/FAZ and student journalists Juš Razboršek, Jure Rožič, Filip Obrul and Ožbe Zemljič, ŠC Velenje, supported by Tanja Koželnik. Under the patronage of the Municipality of Celje; Project management/Photos ©: Gerald and Monica Hühner, PhD, INSTITUT DISCIMUS LAB.