Puits Hottinguer, Coal mine in Épinac, France.

Puits Hottinguer is a coal mine in Épinac featuring a distinctive Malakoff tower that protects the headframe and extraction machinery from the elements. The structure was built between 1872 and 1876 and demonstrates the industrial engineering approach of that era.

Sinking began on 26 May 1863 near the Garenne shaft, where engineers expected an extension of the coal seams. Coal was only reached on 17 November 1871, at 618 m depth, making it the deepest mine shaft in France at the time. Extraction stopped in 1936; from 1948 the Bitulac company used the buildings as a paint factory until abandonment in 1998, after the fire of 12 March 1989.

The headframe takes its name from the Hottinguer family, bankers who backed the Épinac collieries. In 1893 the Société de l'Industrie Minérale held its annual congress in Burgundy and made this pit its only site visit, so its reputation as a showpiece dates from the 19th century. Students of the École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris wrote memoirs about the buildings.

The Malakoff tower and its wings have been under renovation since late 2012, so parts of the buildings may be closed off; check the current state before travelling. The brick structures stand behind a grassy sloping field, and the tower is best seen from outside. A photovoltaic power plant near the old buildings is under study.

The extraction tube was not pressurized but worked by suction: a pneumatic machine on the surface drew air from above a wooden piston sealed with leather, pulling it up the 558 m tube. The first test on 23 July 1876 took twenty minutes; the 1,500 hp machine delivered in 1880 cut the ascent to three minutes.