page_title: Compagnie des mines de Béthune
section_title: Nationalization and closures 1946–82
hierarchical_section_title: Compagnie des mines de Béthune / Corporate history / Nationalization and closures 1946–82
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: La fosse n° 8 - 8 bis de la Compagnie des mines de Béthune était un charbonnage du bassin minier du Nord-Pas-de-Calais constitué de deux puits situé à Auchy-les-Mines, Pas-de-Calais, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France.
context_page_description: The Compagnie des mines de Béthune, sometimes called the sometimes called the Compagnie de Grenay after the name of the concession, was a French coal mining company in the Pas-de-Calais that was established in 1851 and nationalized in 1946.
  The company had 11 mines, each with one or more shafts for extraction of coal or ventilation.
  It had a large facility for screening and washing raw coal, and for producing coke and other secondary products.
  During World War I the front line crossed the mining concession, with the northern part occupied by the Germans, but despite constant shelling production of coal continued.
  Coke production peaked at 565,195 tons in 1928.
  The company had two thermal electricity plants, and operated 159 kilometres of railway tracks.
  At its peak the company was one of the largest coal mining operations in the region, with 12,640 employees in 1945.
context_section_description: The company was nationalized in 1946 and became part of the Groupe de Béthune, which included the former mining companies of Noeux, Vendin-les-Béthune, Gouy-Servin-Fresnicourt and Béthune. The Groupe de Béthune was merged with the Groupe de Lens in 1967.
  In 1957 Mine 10 was concentrated on Mine 13 of the Bethune group.
  In 1959 Mine 2 was concentrated on Mine 1, and in 1961 Mine 1 was in turn concentrated on Mine 13 of the Bethune Group.
  Mine 6 was concentrated on Mine 13 of the Béthune Group in 1961, providing access and ventilation.
  Mine 8 was concentrated on Mine 18 of the Lens group in 1961.
  Mines were closed and back-filled between 1962 and 1977.
  The headframes of Mine 5 were demolished in 1969 and 1970, leaving only the entrance gate.
  Demolitions continued between 1971 and 1982.
  The headframe of Shaft 1ter, which had unique architecture, was destroyed in 1973.
  Mine 3, the last remaining mine, was back-filled in 1977.
caption: Mine 8 at Auchy-les-Mines in 2011
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