Twilight of an industry

Twilight of an industry

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Joseph Leder and Ernest Niessen are now retired, but they both used to work in the mines that are part of the long-standing forging and steel-making tradition in a valley of France’s northeastern Lorraine region.

Now, however, it looks like this venerable industry, which helped shape the landscape of the area and the culture of the people who live there, may be winding down after years of closures of industrial sites, mines and furnaces.

. FLORANGE, France. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler

The Uckange U4 furnace was shut down in 1991 after a century of production and in 2007 it was turned into a museum. The site serves as testament to the industrial history of the area, which is known as the "Angel Valley", since the names of so many cities there end in the letters “ange” – angel in French.

The heavenly guardianship that the name suggests has been missing from the valley’s industry, however, and unemployment rates in the region are over 10 percent.

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Slideshow

The ArcelorMittal blast furnace in Hayange is visible in the distance behind the crosses of a cemetery.
. HAYANGE, France. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler

The ArcelorMittal blast furnace in Hayange is visible in the distance behind the crosses of a cemetery.

Rusty chains secure the gate of one of the entrances to the Gandrange ArcelorMittal steelworks, closed in 2009.
. FLORANGE, France. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler

Rusty chains secure the gate of one of the entrances to the Gandrange ArcelorMittal steelworks, closed in 2009.

An ArcelorMittal Florange-Hayange blast furnace stands in Hayange. A recent decision was made to mothball two blast furnaces at the site.
. FLORANGE, France. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler

An ArcelorMittal Florange-Hayange blast furnace stands in Hayange. A recent decision was made to mothball two blast furnaces at the site.

The slogan "No to the closure" is scrawled on a wall near the Gandrange ArcelorMittal steelworks.
. FLORANGE, France. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler

The slogan "No to the closure" is scrawled on a wall near the Gandrange ArcelorMittal steelworks.

A man walks along a railroad track at the Hayange-Florange ArcelorMittal site.
. FLORANGE, France. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler

A man walks along a railroad track at the Hayange-Florange ArcelorMittal site.

Two women walk with their children in the main street of Rosselange, near Florange.
. FLORANGE, France. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler

Two women walk with their children in the main street of Rosselange, near Florange.

Anthony Valentini, aged 26, poses near a fire set up by workers on strike in front of the Florange ArcelorMittal plant. The son and grandson of metal workers, Anthony was employed until March 2012 at the plant, where his father still works.
. FLORANGE, France. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler

Anthony Valentini, aged 26, poses near a fire set up by workers on strike in front of the Florange ArcelorMittal plant. The son and grandson of metal workers, Anthony was employed until March 2012 at the plant, where his father still works.

Ernest Niessen, an 82-year-old retired iron ore miner, leafs through a book he wrote about the Algrange mine, where he used to work. Niessen was 16 when he started his career at the mine, and retired as a geometrician in 1984 at the age of 53.
. FLORANGE, France. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler

Ernest Niessen, an 82-year-old retired iron ore miner, leafs through a book he wrote about the Algrange mine, where he used to work. Niessen was 16 when he started his career at the mine, and retired as a geometrician in 1984 at the age of 53.

. FLORANGE, France. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler

The glowing letters "SOS" loom up in front of a statue of the Virgin Mary, erected in 1903 and made of cast iron produced in a nearby blast furnace in Hayange.