The pit was nationalised and Handlová was repopulated with Slovak families from all over the country; in 1960 it was granted the status of a town. In December of that same year the slope above it began to move. The Handlová landslide ran from 11 December 1960 to 30 May 1961, destroyed about 150 houses, tore up two kilometres of road and cut the water and power lines; the drainage and stabilisation works carried out afterwards are still taught in Slovak universities as a case study in engineering geology. For forty years after that the town did what the plan told it to do — dig — and the plan never asked what would happen when the seam ran out.Baňu znárodnili a Handlovú znova zaľudnili slovenské rodiny z celej krajiny; v roku 1960 získala štatút mesta. V decembri toho istého roka sa svah nad ňou pohol. Handlovský zosuv trval od 11. decembra 1960 do 30. mája 1961, zničil asi 150 domov, roztrhal dva kilometre cesty a prerušil vodovod aj elektrinu; odvodňovacie a sanačné práce, ktoré po ňom nasledovali, sa na slovenských vysokých školách dodnes učia ako učebnicový príklad inžinierskej geológie. Ďalších štyridsať rokov robilo mesto to, čo mu prikázal plán — kopalo — a plán sa nikdy nespýtal, čo bude, keď sa sloj minie.
