B. Gál Edit – Veres Gábor szerk.: Agria 47. (Az Egri Múzeum Évkönyve - Annales Musei Agriensis, 2011)
Csiffáry Gergely: Egy vállalkozó nagybirtokos nemes Heves megyében, Beniczky György és családja tevékenysége a XIX-XX. században
Gergely Csiffáry An enterprising landowner nobleman in Heves county, the activity of György Beniczky and his family in the 19 t h and 20 t h century This essay consists of two parts, first it tells about the beginnings of coal-mining in the Egercsehi-Szúcs area. In the light of recent data it is known that Austrian geologists found coal in the area mentioned in 1 866. Since the owner of the territory was the Beniczky family, they knew from the beginning that deep in the ground there is coal and the owners calculated with the theoretical possibilities of exploitation. It was in 1890 when György Beniczky demonstrably found coal in the parish in Szűcs on his own land. Then from 1891 he established pits on the site, where from that time on - though only in a rudimentary way - they exploited coal for their own needs and for supplying the neighbourhood. György Beniczky was for 16 years organising and searching for partners and entrepreneurs to establish a modern, large-scale mine. Meanwhile Beniczky bought up the right to coal exploitation over an area of 3200 ca in the surroundings, where it was worth opening a mine. Finally, in December 1906 the Egercsehi Coalmine Pic. was established, to which the right to coal exploitation for 90 years was sold under advantageous conditions. From 1891 György Beniczky operated his private mines till the end, these were taken over by the new company and operated further. The mine brought rapid wealth to the family of György Beniczky, the landowner and later his sons grew the inherited family wealth with clever management until the end of World War II. During the political and economical changes along the Soviet military occupation of the country, owing to the nationalisation of the mines and estates the family lost its whole earlier fortune. However, the Egercsehi Coalmine, up to its final closure on 1 February 1990 provided a living and future for the residents of the neighbourhood for almost 100 years as the biggest employer of the Northern-Heves region. Several reasons contributed to the closure of the company. Primarily, the excavated coal reserves were exploited, the cost of exploitation was too high, which made production uneconomical. In the meantime, the energy shift, i.e. the change from coal to gas heating, the social, economical and political changes in 1989-1990 resulted in the closure of the Egercsehi mine for good. 237
