18/ Raw materials mined in East Bohemia

Ore raw materials

The prehistoric surface-mined ores were gold (e.g., on the Zlatý potok brook in the Orlické hory Mountains), copper (in the Krkonoše Piedmont Region), and iron, the source of which was limonite (e.g., around Skuhrov nad Bělou). Mining of ores in underground mines was carried out from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. Gold mining at Stupná u Nové Paky has been documented since the eleventh century, and silver or copper mining appears since the twelfth century. Significant deposits of iron, copper, arsenic, lead, and tungsten were found in the Krkonoše Mountains, e.g., in Obří důl, near Herlíkovice u Vrchlabí (magnetite) or near Nový Hrádek v Orlických horách. In the twentieth century, the largest ore deposits (iron, manganese) were located in the area around Chvaletice in Železné hory Mountains.

 

Non-ore raw materials

For the production of stone tools (e.g., axes), prehistoric people used tough materials such as metabasites, flint from the Krkonoše Piedmont Region or porcelainite from Kunětická hora Hill. In the Middle Ages and the modern period fluorite, baryte (Harrachov), and graphite (Poniklá) were quarried in addition to others. Large-scale mining of raw materials, especially construction materials, took place in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The material from the quarry on the south side of Kunětická hora Hill was used as ballast during the construction of the railway near Pardubice. Loess and various types of loam were used to produce high-quality brick making material. Large sand and gravel pits were built around rivers (e.g., near Týniště nad Orlicí). In higher altitudes, granite (Litice nad Orlicí), basalt-andesite (i.e., melaphyre, Rožmitál u Broumova), amphibolite (Masty u Bílého Újezdu), marble (Černý Důl), sandstone (Hořice in Podkrkonoší region), spongilitic claystone (Přibylov), glass, and foundry sand (Střeleč) are still mined. Garnets are mined from the alluvial deposits of the Kalenský potok brook near Dolní Olešnice. Claystones suitable for the production of refractory materials were mined in the past in the vicinity of Mladějov near Moravská Třebová. A local travertine deposit existed near Bolehošť.

 

Energy raw materials

Black coal was the most important energy raw material mined in East Bohemia. It was mined in several underground mines (e.g., Jan Šverma) in the Trutnov region from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. Low-quality brown coal was mined in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in mines around Vrbice u Doudleb nad Orlicí or at Hřebeč and Březina u Moravské Třebové. Some mineral deposits of uranium ore can be found in the Krkonoše Mountains (e.g., Labská, Medvědín).