Visited:24. 8. 2021
History:Měděnec Mine is a closed iron ore mine in Měděnec in the Ore Mountains (Chomutov district, Ústí nad Labem region). Between 1968 and 1992, when it was in operation, it produced approximately 2.7 million tonnes of rubtanine, representing about 936 thousand tonnes of iron. For a period of time it also produced copper and silver ores. Muscovite and garnets were mined for a short time after the metal ores had ceased to be mined. In 1955-1966, a magnetometer survey was carried out in the vicinity of Měděnec, which revealed several hidden magnetite deposits based on geomagnetic anomalies. Already in 1958 the Ministry of Metallurgical Industry decided to build a new mining plant, which was to become part of the national enterprise Iron Ore Mines and Ore Lump Plant Ejpovice. However, surface exploration of the site also revealed the presence of uranium ore, and therefore the deposit was taken over by Jáchymovské doly in 1959-1960, which dug an exploration pit there. However, no uranium deposit was found. Construction of the mine itself took place between 1960 and 1968, when it was put into operation in May, although it was not completely finished. Over the years, its organisation changed: 1967-1973: part of the national enterprise Iron Ore Mines and Ore Ore Processing Plant Ejpovice in the Krušná hora plant, 1974-1977: a plant of the national enterprise Ore and Mineral Mines Ejpovice, 1977-1992: part of the national enterprise Ore Mines Příbram (under the name of Václav Řezáč Měděnec Plant). The Měděnec mine ceased production in 1992 as the last iron ore mine in the Czech Republic due to the exhaustion of the deposit. In 1994 it was acquired by Garmica, which mined garnets and mica there, but had to stop mining in 1997 due to low sales. The following year, the mine water was no longer pumped out and the mine was flooded. At the time of the closure in 1992, the mine employed 184 people, but the average number of workers during the period of operation was about 265. The average annual production of rubble was around 110 000 tonnes. The main product of the mine was iron concentrate used for pig iron production or as a ballast for coal preparation plants. Since 1982, however, the accompanying chalcopyrite has also been used to produce copper concentrate with a total content of 323 tonnes of copper and 807 kg of silver (752 kg of silver was recovered from the concentrate at Krompachy). In the last five years of operation, the copper magnetite grit from the highest quality iron ore was taken by the Temelín Nuclear Power Plant Construction Company, which used it for the production of heavy concrete.
Source:https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C5%AFl_M%C4%9Bd%C4%9Bnec
Impressions:Interesting area of the mine, where unfortunately there is a ban on entry.
