Lena Cu-mine, Wilków, Gmina Złotoryja, Złotoryja County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Polandi

Regional Level Types
Lena Cu-mine	Mine (Inactive)
Wilków	Village
Gmina Złotoryja	Gmina
Złotoryja County	County
Lower Silesian Voivodeship	Voivodeship
Poland	Country

Cu/Ag-mine in Zechstein limestone/marl sediments as a part of so called “Old Copper Basin” mines, operated between years 1860-1973.

The first more accurate mentions of copper extraction in the area of Wilków (Wolfsdord)- Leszczyna (Haasel) - Prusice (Prausnitz) date from the 18th century. In the old limestone quarry on the southern slopes of the hill Duzy Mlynik 303m (Mühlleiterberge - later known as Gross Mühlberg), there was an adit called 'Characterstolle', from which malachite was extracted. In 1860, the construction of the mine “Stilles Glück” in Haasel (today Leszczyna) began, that fully operated from 1863. Next to the mine there was also a mill and plant for production of so called 'copper stone'. The mine had three drainage adits and one operating adit, each of them reached length up to 40 m. In the peak period, about 100 miners worked there. The drop in copper prices and, consequently, the unprofitability of mining, led in 1883 to the end of excavation and the mine was shut down. In the twenties of the XX century, thanks to the development of the mining technique and the flotation process used to increase the copper amount in the semi-product (the content of the Cu increased several times), exploitation of poor deposits started to be profitable again. In the 1930s, there was a change in the economic policy of the Third Reich, one of the main tasks was to prepare the country for upcoming war. Between 1933-1935 in the vicinity of Leszczyna a series of twenty boreholles was drilled with a depth of 480 m and 21 shafts with a depth of 3.5 to 15 m The company "Berg- und Hütten A. G." (BUHAG) started intensive exploitation works on the 6 existing mining fields:
- Daniel,
- Haasel,
- Grünspan I,
- Grünspan IV,
- Gotthardt
- Hinderniss
and in 1936 BUHAG decided to build a new mine and an enrichment plant, which was located in its vicinity. The main shareholders of the BUHAG company was Die Bergwerksgesellschaft Georg von Giesches Erben and the Nazi Third Reich (Reichswirtschaftsministerium). The first copper ore was excavated in 1939, and in the same year proceeded to deepen the only existing mine shaft "Hegewaldschacht", reached a depth of 217m in 1942. In the years 1939-1945
the mine employed about 350-400 people and operated in a two-shift system. Due to the technologic process, until 1945 huge flotation wastes reservoir was created, north from the mine. In the first months of 1945 year due to the approaching troops of the Red Army, some of the machines were dismantled and transported to Germany, and the shaft was sunk. After the end of World War II, the Russians took away the remaining and undamaged German machines deep into the USSR. Production began again in the middle of 1950, and the mine received a new name: Zakłady Górnicze "Lena" in Wilków. During the exploitation period in the years 1950-1973, the mine extracted 14 468 129 tons of ore with a content of 0.55% Cu, which gives 76 529 tons of copper. The largest annual mine production in 1965 amounted to 724 398 tons of ore.

Note: see also Nowy Kościół Cu-mine

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References