Bidding Farewell to the Pit: RAG CEO Hangs Up His Helmet After a Decade of Transformation
Mine closure announced: RAG's CEO calls it quits - Miner shuts down final pit
Peter Schrimpf, the mining mogul who transformed the landscape of German hard coal mining, is retiring. As of June 30, 2023, Schrimpf stepped down as the CEO of RAG, marking the end of an era.
Schrimpf's tenure was defined by the symbolic reception of the last piece of German hard coal at the Prosper Haniel mine in Bottrop in December 2018. From his humble beginnings as a mining engineer at the Radbod mine in Hamm in 1984, Schrimpf witnessed the evolution of the industry, working alongside more than 170,000 colleagues during the industry's peak.
His journey with RAG began in 2018, after transforming from Deutsche Steinkohle AG to RAG. Throughout his tenure, Schrimpf tackled the massive reduction in the hard coal industry's workforce, especially after the 2007 deadline for the phase-out of hard coal mining in Germany. "The challenge was definitely shaping a socially acceptable phase-out by 2018," Schrimpf shared, "We knew we had to reduce our workforce by around 30,000 – either through early retirement or external placement." The shift resulted in a dramatic drop in the number of employees, from around 2,000 in 2018 to approximately 600 today.
Schrimpf credits the camaraderie and solidarity in the mining community as the most valuable aspects of his career. "What people say about mining, I've experienced it myself," he told the German Press Agency (dpa).
RAG AG, wholly owned by the RAG Foundation, is responsible for managing the ongoing expenses associated with German hard coal mining and maintaining the groundwater level after the mines' closure. This is crucial as groundwater is often tainted with salts and chemicals that collect in the mines' empty cavities post-mining. To prevent contamination of drinking water layers, it must be continuously pumped out.
The future CEO of RAG will be announced at a later date. Until then, Peter Schrimpf can retire with pride, having shaped the future of mining in Germany.
As Peter Schrimpf, the long-serving CEO of RAG, steps down, EC countries and businesses will closely watch the agency's future employment policy, as RAG plays a crucial role in managing the workforce and expenses associated with German hard coal mining. The new CEO will inherit a significantly downsized workforce, with the employment policy likely to focus on maintaining sustainable levels and providing support to the remaining workers.
