Minei Hill open pit, Baia Sprie mine, Baia Sprie, Maramureș County, Romaniai

Regional Level Types
Minei Hill open pit	Deposit
Baia Sprie mine	Mine (Inactive)
Baia Sprie	Town
Maramureș County	County
Romania	Country

Minei Hill open pit, Baia Sprie mine, Carpathian Mountains, Europe

An old mining ore deposit, the “Minei Hill” covers an area of 32 km² and is located 3.3 km north of Baia Sprie.

From the first half of the 12th century until the second half of the 18th century, the operation of extracting gold and silver ore was done by open-cast or surface mining processes.

Structurally, the deposit is a stockwork-type andesitic body, strongly fractured, placed over a pre-volcanic groundwork with a sedimentary origin.

In the “Minei Hill” ore deposit, the hydrothermal mineralization formed in two system veins:

— “The Northern Vein”, also called the “The Main Vein” (principal vein), with a thickness between 500-700 m, oriented W to E and a length of 6 km in this studied area. The main feature of “The Northern Vein” is that only in the “Minei Hill” the mineralization reaches the erosion surface of the andesitic bodies (Mariaș, 2005).

— The other vein, much less mineralized, is the “Southern Vein”, also called “The New Vein” (Nou Vein).

History of mining:

1768 — Borcut Mine, the start of mining operations;
1786 — Terezia Mine;
1787 — Poni and Francisc galleries;
1919 — “Crăpătura Zorilor” and Leppen open pits;
1952 — Screapăr Gallery.

All these mines and galleries are closed now.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References