Original paper
The Upper Harz Water Regale
Röhling, Heinz-Gerd; Teicke, Justus; Wellmer, Friedrich-Wilhelm
Schriftenreihe der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Geowissenschaften Heft 66 (2010), p. 119 - 121
6 references
published: May 28, 2010
ArtNo. ESP171906600073, Price: 8.00 €
Abstract
The Upper Harz was from the 17th to 18th century one of, if not the most important mining region in Central Europe, in the same league as the Tyrolean silver mining area in Austria, the Ore Mountain (Erzgebirge) in Saxony and Bohemia (today Czech Republic), and the Slovakian Ore mountains (around the town of Schemnitz, today Banská Stiavnica) (Fettweis 2004). The major products of its mines were lead and silver (also some copper) and beginning in the 19th century zinc. Also the iron ore mines and smelters have to be taken onto account when considering the mining district Harz, because they produced the necessary iron for the mining tools. The main purpose of the mines was to produce silver which primarily is associated with the lead mineral galena as a by-product. At those times silver was the monetary metal per se. Compared to the price of gold, silver up to the 19th century had a value 3 to 5 times higher than today..
Keywords
Germany • Harz • silver • mining industry