There's Joep

In 1939, Jean Hermans (son of a miner who died in an accident) came up with the idea of erecting a monument in honour and glory of the miners in the mining region.
Because the financial resources were not available and the Second World War broke out, this idea was not yet realized. In 1954, the 'monument to the miner' committee was set up to realise this idea.
The committee, chaired by alderman H. Hubben, consisted mainly of dignitaries from the political and religious life of Kerkraad. According to them, the national mining monument should be located in Kerkrade because that place was the cradle of the mining industry in the Netherlands.
In 1955, a number of artists were invited through a competition to make a model in plaster... 'For the miner, in a figure on a pedestal, in which the nobility of his work, his sturdy strength and greatness as a human being is depicted. The monument is also intended as a tribute to those who lost their lives in the exercise of their profession and to those who were the first to win the
coal mining: the monks of Rolduc'.
The sculptor Wim van Hoorn is the designer of the statue and on 16 June 1957 the bronze monument was unveiled. At the unveiling on 16 June 1957 on the Market Square, Dr. Houben, Governor of Limburg, made the statement: 'Doa sjteet d'r Joep, inne echte köaler!' (There is our Joep, a real miner).
The unveiling of the statue was recorded in the Polygoon newsreel. On the pedestal of the statue, a dog-like creature is depicted on the front. This creature represents a mining wolf as a visualization of the danger to which the miner was always exposed. On the back of the pedestal is a mine shaft with a miner lying down.

Tourist Board South Limburg (Visit Zuid-Limburg)