Land of Extinct Volcanoes part 5/16 - "Aurelia" Gold Mine

in #travel6 years ago (edited)

Złotoryja ("gold dig"?) is very old town (formally the oldest town in Poland), known for gold and copper mining. As any old town, it is rich in historic buildings, but I visited it for different reasons.

First I went to the Museum of Gold, to see exhibition of minerals found in the region. There was also collection of old mining equipment. On top floor there was a gallery of pictures drawn by local school children. I liked one painting in particular - not necessarily the execution, but the concept: a naked woman sitting on top of the cone-shaped rock, her bright orange hair flowing down her body and the ground, imitating lava flows. Too bad the photo turned out to be out of focus.

3m109ckwq5.jpg

"Aurelia" is a former gold mine located in the northern part of Złotoryja. It is narrow and not very deep for a mine. First a guide leads you in and talks about history of this place (turns out it was never all that rich in gold but people digged anyway), then you can walk around freely.

vqk751kkw4.jpg

It is pretty humid place - around 3000 litres of water are pumped out of it every day.

slcmjhaxmr.jpg

Water helps in development of dripstones - judging by the color of new sediments the water is rich in iron oxide.

cbw6qfz1sf.jpg

jcr0qaa8u5.jpg

Imagine how it will look like in couple million years...

There is no more gold in the mine (supposedly) - see for yourself if you can spot any gold in this rock :o)

5o4c5362pe.jpg

Gold might not be present in the mine, it can be panned from Kaczawa river though. There is even annual gold panning competition held in Złotoryja.

Sort:  

Congratulations, Your Post Has Been Added To The Steemit Worldmap!
Author link: http://steemitworldmap.com?author=miosha
Post link: http://steemitworldmap.com?post=land-of-extinct-volcanoes-part-5-16-aurelia-gold-mine-5f6fa4d4b47aest


Want to have your post on the map too?

  • Go to Steemitworldmap
  • Click the code slider at the bottom
  • Click on the map where your post should be (zoom in if needed)
  • Copy and paste the generated code in your post
  • Congrats, your post is now on the map!

Thanks for using eSteem!
Your post has been voted as a part of eSteem encouragement program. Keep up the good work! Install Android, iOS Mobile app or Windows, Mac, Linux Surfer app, if you haven't already!
Learn more: https://esteem.app
Join our discord: https://discord.gg/8eHupPq