My parents took us as kids to this site for the first time back in 1988. It seems to me there was at least 5 or 6 visible courses around the pit at that time, with phone poles descending down beneath. The water was quite low, and remember my older brother throwing a big rock and losing sight of it from the side. Great memories
Hi Nick. Thanks for commenting. That must have been a few years after the pit ceased operating and they stopped draining it. The file photo of pit I included in this essay suggests the poles you saw were on the haulage road, the top of which now looks like a boat ramp. Amazing the things we remember over time. Even if we don't have cameras in hand, we capture visual memories in our mind.
Yes, you're right. I believe it closed very end of 70's or early 80's. We visited about 8 years later. I want to think i remember at least five or six rings of road visible with hydrogen poles descending down below water surface.
What an interesting experience John. I've only visited a mine in Nova Scotia that was enclosed . The water looks beautiful in the pit. Hopefully it can be put to good use by generating power in the near future. Thank you once again for an enlightening post about our unique area that we live in.
Thanks Amanda. I learned a lot preparing this post and even more from the comments left below. Follow the thread under MundaneMarvels & SBG Photo's comment to see why the storage solution suggested in the article is probably no longer feasible. Seems battery technology is currently winning the race for better energy storage. Such is the rapid advance of technology that yesterday's solutions are often superseded by newer ideas. I do agree that the site seems to offer unique opportunities. Perhaps the motion picture industry can film the next deep sea adventure there.
Nice images! There are coal mines in our region, the ones in nearby Germany are still in use. They've created some view points where you can look out over these massive pits - it's quite impressive. Especially when you see the diggers. They look small, but are actually gigantic :-) (like this one: https://limburg.photo/limburg-miscellaneous/#lg=1&slide=5 ). These pits will close in the upcoming years (at least I think ...) and then they will become nature reserves again (and filled with water as well)
That's a fascinating abstract/industrial image Ronald. Those caterpillar tracks remind me of the big rig used to move rockets from the vehicle assembly building to the launchpads at the Kennedy Space Centre down in Florida. But even those machines would be dwarfed by this one. I love how you have captured all the different colours and textures of the slag soils. There is a terrible beauty to it. I had to look up lignite to see what it is. Just another name for coal it seems although perhaps a higher grade than black coal. It sounds like Germany or at least some parts of it, are being eaten alive by these monster machines with entire villages being consumed. No wonder burning these fossil fuels across the planet has gotten us into the kind of trouble we are in today.
Yes lignite is another word for "brown coal" which is the type of coal that was mined here in the (south of the) Netherlands and (is still being mined) right across the border in Germany: https://maps.app.goo.gl/vXf6f1mcfaPotBBK7 ==> if you zoom out you see a couple of those pits. The pin location is the where I stood when I took the picture of the digger. The pits are massive, and indeed, they swallow villages - most recent the small hamlet of Lützerath (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luetzerath)
I really appreciated the blend of historical insight, personal reflection, and environmental potential. The photos you took are excellent—they really help capture the scale and the quiet beauty of the site. That rock face you spotted, watching over the transition from extraction to restoration, felt like a perfect metaphor for the entire place. It’s sobering to think how much was taken from the earth here, but also inspiring to imagine this same site helping generate clean energy for hundreds of thousands of homes. Here’s hoping that the next chapter in the pit’s story is one of renewal, not removal.
Thanks John. As it turns out, my enthusiasm for the site being regenerated may be misguided. See Art Chamberlain's comment in the thread started by Andy Moeck below. You can read Art's update from Jan 2024 here: https://www.trenthillsnews.com/p/minister-orders-more-study-of-marmora - I should add that the polititian who was pushing for the re-assessment of the proposed restoration program in Art's report subsequently left Provincial politics to work in the Nuclear power industry.
Comes down to technology really. Battery storage is now better than the proposed pump storage solution, or so say the groups that studied the two systems. How much politics came into the decision is hard to say. I wonder how clean battery storage is compared to the proposed pumped storage solution which would have been very clean. I image the upfront costs would be lower using batteries, but once it is built, it would last practically forever. And of course there is the added benefit of cleaning up the old mine and the boost to the local economy that will not be realized now the project has been shelved. - All good here.
Battery tech is in fact coming along at quite the clip, but it's relatively easy to understand why batteries are better. Using excess power to run those pumps incurs an energy loss, because the pumps aren't 100% efficient, then a similar loss happens when using turbines to convert that head of water back into electricity. By comparison, batteries don't require that mechanical conversion. There's going to be some heat loss during the charge/discharge cycle but it will be nothing compared to pumping water.
Battery tech that uses more commonly available materials with less environmental impact is the way to go. What we need to be doing it to stop mucking about and get on with deploying it.
Thank you Alan. These articles are indeed, very interesting and underline a paradigm shift away from less efficient mechanical technologies. How fast our world is changing. Deployment is slowed by human resistance to change and political will married to old tech. Ultimately, cost benefit analysis will be the driving force for large scale adoption.
Such a huge body of clear blue water! Thanks so much for researching and adding all the details. I guess you were trespassing but I'm so glad you did. It would be wonderful to actually go there.
Yes, I was a naughty boy and fully expected someone from the mine office would come shout at us as the mine was open that day and I felt certain we could be seen from the main building. I don't think this is a recent breech so I guess they aren't too concerned or they would have fixed it. It would be nice however, if they put additional fencing up so that you could see the lake from other angles. If I had been restricted to the single point observation platform provided, I would have been very disappointed as you can't see much from there.
Great journalism, that mine was the lifeblood of Marmora. My late father in law was the pit superintendent, he took us down to the bottom of the mine. It was a great place to work with high wages at the time but I am glad I decided not to take a job there. He said it wouldn,t last and so true. The Town bank has closed along with the beer store. This whole area around Marmora is rich with minerals but I guess not enough to mine successfully. There is an old mine shaft to the East and they have drilled for gold also East of there in the Township. With new technology perhaps some of these old mines may once again be profitable.
Thanks Joe. Your Dad had an inside track and steered you well. It would have been an unpopular opinion at the time, that the mine would eventually have to close. The proposed hydro electric development would also take a massive investment in man hours to complete, again with high paying jobs, but with a finite period until the project reached the end of the construction phase. Still, a boost like that to Marmora's economy couldn't happen too soon. It would be a major influence on the development of the entire area including Trent Hills.
Interesting story. I grew up in Brighton and Belleville, and do remember my daring older brother occasionally swimming in an abandoned quarry somewhere around there. I don’t know for sure if it was Marmora - may have been. The rock face in your photo is quite striking. I had to look for it- and suddenly saw this silent sentinel. Thanks for publishing this piece, John.
Thanks for your comment Michelle. The most popular swimming hole in the area is the one at the old gravel pit at the Campbellford Seymour conservation area on Highway 30 just south of Campbellford. i wonder if it was that one. The water level of the Marmora pit would have been very much lower than it is today. It took a long, long time for it to fill up to the current level. Also, access to the mine is highly restricted, despite my chance access on this occasion. I'm glad to hear you spotted the rock face. I did nothing to enhance the photo save for shielding light coming directly into my lens with my free hand as I was shooting almost directly into the sun. I find it amazing to see all of the facial features in the rock. Once seen, it can't be unseen.
Interesting background and history John! I like the picture of the blue water and the change on colour at the underwater shelf. Interesting texture with the ripples.
Using pumped storage for generating electricity during peaks is certainly a good idea. Our electricity grid in Ontario is one of the cleanest around and the use of pumped storage in Niagara shows that the concept really works.
There have been a couple of studies done by the province that found the Marmora pumped storage was not the cheapest way to store energy. Battery technology is getting cheaper and better. But when Todd Smith was local MPP and energy minister he rejected the reports and told them to study it again.
My parents took us as kids to this site for the first time back in 1988. It seems to me there was at least 5 or 6 visible courses around the pit at that time, with phone poles descending down beneath. The water was quite low, and remember my older brother throwing a big rock and losing sight of it from the side. Great memories
Hi Nick. Thanks for commenting. That must have been a few years after the pit ceased operating and they stopped draining it. The file photo of pit I included in this essay suggests the poles you saw were on the haulage road, the top of which now looks like a boat ramp. Amazing the things we remember over time. Even if we don't have cameras in hand, we capture visual memories in our mind.
Yes, you're right. I believe it closed very end of 70's or early 80's. We visited about 8 years later. I want to think i remember at least five or six rings of road visible with hydrogen poles descending down below water surface.
*hydro poles (auto correct)
What an interesting experience John. I've only visited a mine in Nova Scotia that was enclosed . The water looks beautiful in the pit. Hopefully it can be put to good use by generating power in the near future. Thank you once again for an enlightening post about our unique area that we live in.
Thanks Amanda. I learned a lot preparing this post and even more from the comments left below. Follow the thread under MundaneMarvels & SBG Photo's comment to see why the storage solution suggested in the article is probably no longer feasible. Seems battery technology is currently winning the race for better energy storage. Such is the rapid advance of technology that yesterday's solutions are often superseded by newer ideas. I do agree that the site seems to offer unique opportunities. Perhaps the motion picture industry can film the next deep sea adventure there.
Nice images! There are coal mines in our region, the ones in nearby Germany are still in use. They've created some view points where you can look out over these massive pits - it's quite impressive. Especially when you see the diggers. They look small, but are actually gigantic :-) (like this one: https://limburg.photo/limburg-miscellaneous/#lg=1&slide=5 ). These pits will close in the upcoming years (at least I think ...) and then they will become nature reserves again (and filled with water as well)
That's a fascinating abstract/industrial image Ronald. Those caterpillar tracks remind me of the big rig used to move rockets from the vehicle assembly building to the launchpads at the Kennedy Space Centre down in Florida. But even those machines would be dwarfed by this one. I love how you have captured all the different colours and textures of the slag soils. There is a terrible beauty to it. I had to look up lignite to see what it is. Just another name for coal it seems although perhaps a higher grade than black coal. It sounds like Germany or at least some parts of it, are being eaten alive by these monster machines with entire villages being consumed. No wonder burning these fossil fuels across the planet has gotten us into the kind of trouble we are in today.
Yes lignite is another word for "brown coal" which is the type of coal that was mined here in the (south of the) Netherlands and (is still being mined) right across the border in Germany: https://maps.app.goo.gl/vXf6f1mcfaPotBBK7 ==> if you zoom out you see a couple of those pits. The pin location is the where I stood when I took the picture of the digger. The pits are massive, and indeed, they swallow villages - most recent the small hamlet of Lützerath (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luetzerath)
Wow.
This was a fascinating read, John.
I really appreciated the blend of historical insight, personal reflection, and environmental potential. The photos you took are excellent—they really help capture the scale and the quiet beauty of the site. That rock face you spotted, watching over the transition from extraction to restoration, felt like a perfect metaphor for the entire place. It’s sobering to think how much was taken from the earth here, but also inspiring to imagine this same site helping generate clean energy for hundreds of thousands of homes. Here’s hoping that the next chapter in the pit’s story is one of renewal, not removal.
Thanks John. As it turns out, my enthusiasm for the site being regenerated may be misguided. See Art Chamberlain's comment in the thread started by Andy Moeck below. You can read Art's update from Jan 2024 here: https://www.trenthillsnews.com/p/minister-orders-more-study-of-marmora - I should add that the polititian who was pushing for the re-assessment of the proposed restoration program in Art's report subsequently left Provincial politics to work in the Nuclear power industry.
Poliitics... incredible. Thanks for the update John. I hope all is well with you.
Comes down to technology really. Battery storage is now better than the proposed pump storage solution, or so say the groups that studied the two systems. How much politics came into the decision is hard to say. I wonder how clean battery storage is compared to the proposed pumped storage solution which would have been very clean. I image the upfront costs would be lower using batteries, but once it is built, it would last practically forever. And of course there is the added benefit of cleaning up the old mine and the boost to the local economy that will not be realized now the project has been shelved. - All good here.
Battery tech is in fact coming along at quite the clip, but it's relatively easy to understand why batteries are better. Using excess power to run those pumps incurs an energy loss, because the pumps aren't 100% efficient, then a similar loss happens when using turbines to convert that head of water back into electricity. By comparison, batteries don't require that mechanical conversion. There's going to be some heat loss during the charge/discharge cycle but it will be nothing compared to pumping water.
The latest industrial scale battery tech uses Lithium-Sulphur storage, which is a lot less expensive than Lithium-Nickel, etc. there's a good overview of some recent developments here https://interestingengineering.com/energy/25000-charge-cycles-lithium-sulfur-battery?group=woof There's also Sodium-Sulphur (NaS) technology that's been deployed at scale: https://www.energy-storage.news/nas-batteries-long-duration-energy-storage-proven-at-5gwh-of-deployments-worldwide/.
Battery tech that uses more commonly available materials with less environmental impact is the way to go. What we need to be doing it to stop mucking about and get on with deploying it.
Thank you Alan. These articles are indeed, very interesting and underline a paradigm shift away from less efficient mechanical technologies. How fast our world is changing. Deployment is slowed by human resistance to change and political will married to old tech. Ultimately, cost benefit analysis will be the driving force for large scale adoption.
Such a huge body of clear blue water! Thanks so much for researching and adding all the details. I guess you were trespassing but I'm so glad you did. It would be wonderful to actually go there.
Yes, I was a naughty boy and fully expected someone from the mine office would come shout at us as the mine was open that day and I felt certain we could be seen from the main building. I don't think this is a recent breech so I guess they aren't too concerned or they would have fixed it. It would be nice however, if they put additional fencing up so that you could see the lake from other angles. If I had been restricted to the single point observation platform provided, I would have been very disappointed as you can't see much from there.
Great journalism, that mine was the lifeblood of Marmora. My late father in law was the pit superintendent, he took us down to the bottom of the mine. It was a great place to work with high wages at the time but I am glad I decided not to take a job there. He said it wouldn,t last and so true. The Town bank has closed along with the beer store. This whole area around Marmora is rich with minerals but I guess not enough to mine successfully. There is an old mine shaft to the East and they have drilled for gold also East of there in the Township. With new technology perhaps some of these old mines may once again be profitable.
Thanks Joe. Your Dad had an inside track and steered you well. It would have been an unpopular opinion at the time, that the mine would eventually have to close. The proposed hydro electric development would also take a massive investment in man hours to complete, again with high paying jobs, but with a finite period until the project reached the end of the construction phase. Still, a boost like that to Marmora's economy couldn't happen too soon. It would be a major influence on the development of the entire area including Trent Hills.
Interesting story. I grew up in Brighton and Belleville, and do remember my daring older brother occasionally swimming in an abandoned quarry somewhere around there. I don’t know for sure if it was Marmora - may have been. The rock face in your photo is quite striking. I had to look for it- and suddenly saw this silent sentinel. Thanks for publishing this piece, John.
That’s what I was thinking too - about the quarry, and also about not being able to unsee that sculpted face.
Thanks for your comment Michelle. The most popular swimming hole in the area is the one at the old gravel pit at the Campbellford Seymour conservation area on Highway 30 just south of Campbellford. i wonder if it was that one. The water level of the Marmora pit would have been very much lower than it is today. It took a long, long time for it to fill up to the current level. Also, access to the mine is highly restricted, despite my chance access on this occasion. I'm glad to hear you spotted the rock face. I did nothing to enhance the photo save for shielding light coming directly into my lens with my free hand as I was shooting almost directly into the sun. I find it amazing to see all of the facial features in the rock. Once seen, it can't be unseen.
Interesting background and history John! I like the picture of the blue water and the change on colour at the underwater shelf. Interesting texture with the ripples.
Using pumped storage for generating electricity during peaks is certainly a good idea. Our electricity grid in Ontario is one of the cleanest around and the use of pumped storage in Niagara shows that the concept really works.
Thanks for sharing!
Yes, proof of concept is there. Political will is, I suppose the missing ingredient. Perhaps that will change with the most recent shakeup.
There have been a couple of studies done by the province that found the Marmora pumped storage was not the cheapest way to store energy. Battery technology is getting cheaper and better. But when Todd Smith was local MPP and energy minister he rejected the reports and told them to study it again.
Thanks Art. I just found your report for anyone who wants to dig a little deeper:
https://www.trenthillsnews.com/p/minister-orders-more-study-of-marmora