After some 200 years, industrial black coal mining in Germany came to an end when the last piece of coal mined in the country was symbolically handed over to German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Wednesday.

A member of a mine rescue team and a miner of the largest German coal mining corporation, RAG, hand over to German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (R) a symbolic last lump of black coal extracted in Germany on April 3, 2019 in Berlin. [Photo: AFP/John Macdougall]

The lump of coal represented a part of history, "of the economy of scarcity after the war, of the beginnings of Europe, of economic development", Steinmeier said.

After receiving the piece of black coal on Wednesday, the German president paid tribute to the contribution of miners to Germany's economic reconstruction after the Second World War.

The coal was not only a symbol of the past, however, but also stood "for the energy and inventiveness of an entire region", added Steinmeier, referring to efforts made in the Ruhr area to create new employment and livelihood prospects after the end of mining.

The seven-kilo piece of coal, mined at the Prosper-Haniel mine in the Ruhr area, had already been presented to the German president after the mine closed in December. The coal had been taken away to be prepared and preserved for the occasion.

Steinmeier is planning to keep the coal in his office at Bellevue Castle. After finishing his term in office, the piece of coal will be exhibited in the Haus der Geschichte museum in Bonn.