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The mining area around Oelsnitz/Erzgebirge is typical of coal mining at the northern edge of the Erzgebirge in the 19th and 20th centuries. The Lugau-Oelsnitz area is the most recent of the three large coal deposits to be worked in Saxony the others include the Plauenscher Grund near Dresden and the area around Zwickau. Coal mining in the Lugau-Oelsnitz district has been an important component of Saxony’s industrial development since the mid-19th century. Even though the area was only mined for a century (until the 1970s), mining has shaped the landscape around Lugau and Oelsnitz, and had a lasting impact on urban development.