page_title: Donk, Mol
section_title: Industrial evolution
hierarchical_section_title: Donk, Mol / Industrial evolution
caption_attribution_description: This is a photo of onroerend erfgoed number 52793
context_page_description: Donk is a township in the municipality of Mol in the province of Antwerp in Belgium. Donk resides at the southern side of the Bocholt–Herentals Canal and is an industrial area, especially in past.
context_section_description: The Bocholt–Herentals Canal was constructed in 1846, the same year that "Turnhoutse Baan", a road between Turnhout and the centre of Mol, which crossed the canal was also constructed. This was the start of the industrial evolution in Donk. In 1896 a railway was built next to Turnhoutse Baan but this was already closed some decades later. It took until 1986 until the tracks were removed.
  In 1860 the exploitation of white sand started and some of such companies raised. A notable factory was Sablières et Carrières Réunies (SCR), founded in 1872." In 1921 it took over the shares of competitor Anciennes Sablières Stanislas Emsens. In 1955 the company was renamed to Sibelco. Another notable company was Grandes Sablières de la Campine, founded in 1882. Although it got bankrupt some decades later the company activities led to the creation of a huge lake of 210 acres, named Miramar, which is now used as a recreation lake for water sports. Another of such lake, Zandkot, is around 20 acres. This is currently used by the nuclear plants for water cooling. There were a lot of other sand winning companies but only Sibelco remains.
  Besides the sand winning companies a lot of other companies arose. Notables are 
  Betonwerken van Moll, founded in 1911 and specialized in cement. In 1923 the company was renamed to N.V. Beton en Mollith and once again renamed in 1930 to N.V. Johns-Manville and started with the production of asbestos.
  Verreries de Liège et de la Campine, a glasswork founded in 1922, later on renamed to Verlica and then Verlipack. The company was shut down in 1999. The company halls were renovated and converted into a business park named Verlipark. Parts of the business park can be bought/hired.
  Société d'Electricité de la Campine, an electric power plant on black coal founded in 1929. It originally had a capacity of 20 MW. In 1956 the company was taken over by EBES which is now known as Electrabel. The power plant had two chimneys of 410 feet and a cooling tower of 246 feet. Both towers could be seen from far. The power plant was shut down in 2010 as it produced too much carbon dioxide. The premises were bought by VITO who deconstructed the power plant. On 10 July 2014 the chimneys and cooling tower were blown up with dynamite.
  SCK•CEN, a nuclear test plant founded in 1952. Some other companies related to nuclear power are Eurochemic in Dessel and IRMM (Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements). Over the years SCK•CEN did a lot more than only research on nuclear activities. At end of the 1980s it was decided all activities not related to nuclear purposes are no longer core business. These non-core activities were taken over by the newly founded VITO.
caption: Some of the (renovated) working-class houses in township Donk
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