In 1830, a survey was conducted atop Bourlémont Hill, near the eventual site of the Sainte Marie Coal Mine, but no trace of coal was discovered. By the 1860s, the Stéphanien coal basin had been found, and the Saint-Charles, Saint-Joseph, Sainte-Pauline, and Sainte-Barbe mines were opened. Also ongoing at that time was the unsuccessful digging of the Saint-Georges pit.