Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Chavannes washhouse, located in Montceau-les-Mines (Saône-et-Loire), was built between 1922 and 1923 under the impetus of the Blanzy Houillères. Designed as a coal washer, it became one of the most powerful mineral processing plants in Europe, with a capacity of 1,000 tons per hour. Its electrified rail network, unique in France, connected the extraction wells and the station via a metal bridge crossing the Canal du Centre. The installations, which were modernised after 1950, operated until November 1999.

The site covered 32 hectares, with a land right-of-way of 8,000 m2, and included processing lines, offices, showers and worker housing. Architecturally, it combined reinforced concrete, iron panels and bricks, with sheds and long-paned roofs. The substation, the changing rooms and the washhouse itself had apparent metal frames. After its closure, the site was listed as historic monuments in 2000 with the label "Heritage of the 20th century", but its degradation led to its cancellation in 2020.

Despite conversion projects (international competition in the 2000s), no funding allowed its safeguard. Today, the Chavanne wash, symbol of the mining industrial age, remains a wasteland threatened with dismantling. Its electrified railway network, partially preserved, and its river port still bear witness to its historical importance in the mining basin of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté.

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