Mine de
Neuves-Maisons

The Neuves-Maisons mine or Mine du Val de Fer or Mine Maron-Val de Fer

The Val de Fer mine is an iron ore mine with entrances at Neuves-Maisons, Chaligny and Maron, in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department of Lorraine. It operated from 1874 to 1968, and was described as an “underground city”.
Various trades were employed here: miners, tracklayers, stationmasters, electricians and others.
It also has some 2,500 and 3,000 kilometers of galleries, 400 of which are still standing today.
To find out more, History of the Neuves-Maisons Mine ,Video Social history , Video The last miner.

Iron for the Eiffel Tower

The Neuves-Maisons mine is one of the iron mines used to extract the ore for the Eiffel Tower.
Iron for the Eiffel Tower comes from Lorraine. (Ludres, Messein, Neuves-Maisons, Chavigny, Houdemont and Vandoeuvre). The site is a reference point for the people of Lorraine, and also for the history of the iron and steel industry and the mining of minette in the Nancy Basin.

Visit

In a magnificent setting on the edge of the Hayes forest, this mine is emblematic of the development of the industrial basin around Nancy.
The tour takes visitors into the heart of the 19th-century iron mine galleries. Safe tours allow young and old alike to discover a unique and difficult working environment, emblematic of the industrial revolution. Along a 1km 300 route, a guide accompanies each group and explains the life of the miners who worked in the industrial revolution, as well as their working techniques. What’s more, each group will be able to handle tools, just as they did in 1874.

The new wooded gallery has been open since November 2024 (see Development work).

A steel park offers a free tour of the processes that lead from ore extraction to the iron objects we use every day.

Opening soon, 20th-century ore storage facility.