Economy

Mining

Brief history of mining in Vulcan

Here are some facts about how coal was discovered here in the region. Documents say that in 1788, the army of Austrian General Landau defended the heights of Vulcan from a Turkish horde that wanted to enter Transylvania. On a very cold night the Austrian soldiers made the fire to warm up, however when they had to put it out they discovered that it could not be stifled. Unbeknownst to them, the underlying coal had caught fire. Suddenly this gave General Landau an idea of how to stop the Turks without a fight. He ordered soldiers to make large piles of coal and to light them. The Turks saw the surrounding mountains aglow with fire and became so scared that they immediately started to make their way back to the Danube, thinking the Austrian army was much bigger than theirs.

In 1850 the Hoffmann brothers obtained authorization to extract coal in Vulcan and then at the town of Petrosani; this is how "Societatea brasoveana de mine si cuptoare" (The Brasov Society of Mines and Furnaces) was born.

After this date the coal fever began in the Jiu Valley; people were coming to work in the coal-mines from all around: Czechs, Germans, Italians, Poles, Austrians, and of course Romanians.

Coal characteristics:

Based on petrographic analyses as well as the physical, chemical, and industrial characteristics of coal in the Jiu Valley, specialists have determined that the Jiu valley contains both brown coal and pit coal. The criterion for the separation of these two types of coal is the caloric power of 5.700kcl/kg. Pit coals are grouped by their properties: those that can be made into coke and energetic pit coals. You can find pit coal that can be made into coke at the Vulcan and Paroseni mines.

In 1850, Thaddaus Weiss wrote, "Jiu Valley coal is a veritable pit coal, it is very clean, it is lacking any pyrite, it's compact, it has a dark black color with tarring luster, and the coal can produce 60% coke by weight and methane attaining 250% in volume".

In 1939, Ion E. Bujoiu described in the Enciclopedia Romaniei - Romania Encyclopedia that, "...thanks to The Industrial Chemistry Institute of Bucharest Polytechnic University, starting from now on the Jiu Valley coal can be classified as pit coal, from chemistry point of view, because of the existence of greasy lamp oil pit coal in the West of the Basin and a dewatered pit coal producing a long flame in East."

Mines in Vulcan

Currently there are 2 mines in Vulcan:

· Vulcan Mining Exploitation (E.M. Vulcan), reopened in 1952.
· Address: Str. Crividia, nr. 52
· Employee's number: 8.600
· Tel: 0254/ 570.420

· Paroseni Mining Exploitation (E.M. Paroseni) set up in 1966.
· Address: Str. Paroseni, Nr.20
· Employee's number: 4.200
· Tel: 0254/ 570.420

Demographics

Total population: 32.000

Population structure (by gender):
- Men: 15.402
- Women: 14.798

Population structure (by nationality):
- Romanians: 90%
- Hungarians: 7%
- Gypsies: 1%
- Germans: 0.2%
- Others: 1.8%

Birth rate:
- in 2002: 352 births
- in 2001: 342 births
- in 2002: 302 births

Death rate:
- in 2000: 204 deaths
- in 2001: 239 deaths
- in 2002: 159 deaths

Statistics
Commercial Enterprises: 370
· Limited Liability Enterprises 286
· Collective Enterprises 24
· Societati pe Actiuni 6
· Family businesses 50
· Societati în Comandita Simpla 4

Source: DEEP