The first mining at the Rheinpreußen mine took place in 1876, although the sinking work on shafts 1 and 2 had been repeatedly delayed by technical problems such as quicksand collapses. The development of coal mining and sinking of new shafts over the next century extended the mining area from Duisburg-Homberg to Moers.

This shaft, known as the "Gerdt" shaft (Rheinpreußen 8), was sunk east of the main shaft system in 1941 as a ventilation shaft and put into operation for Rheinpreußen 5/9 in 1945. An expansion from 1955 to 1959 made Shaft 8 ready for winding. The winding tower for this was planned by the architects Fritz Schupp, a well-known figure in the Ruhr area. Winding here was abandoned in 1967.

1971 saw the shaft become part of the new Rheinland Mine and then through merger into the Freidrich Heinrich/Rheinland Mine in 1993. It became part of the Walsum Mine in 1994 and was abandoned and filled-in in 2004. The shaft was 573m deep and 4.5m in diameter. The winding drum and controls remain at the top of the tower.