Germany has closed its last black coal mine. This marks the end of a 200-year-old industry that once fuelled the country's economic growth but lost the battle against cheaper foreign competitors. The remaining 1,500 workers of the prosper-haniel mine in bottrop will make their final during an emotional ceremony. Hard coal is the fossil fuel that powered west-Germany’s industrialisation and its economic success after the second world war. In 2007 the state government, industry and unions reached a deal to phase-out hard coal mining by 2018.