History Gold Mine in Złoty Stok

The First gold mining activities took place in the area of Zloty Stok (Golden Stream) in the 20th century BC. From that time until recent times over 300 km of shafts, adits and galleries on 21 levels were drilled.

The First written record confirming mining in the area is as old as 1273.

A mining act by the Prince Henryk IV Probus, stated that the Cistercian abbey in Kamieniec was privileged to search for valuable minerals.
In the following centuries Zloty Stok gold mines had several owners who made a good profit. At the end of the 15th century they were regarded as the most effective in the Silesian region.

The 15th century connects Zloty Stok with the name of a very famous sculptor Veit Stoss, the author of the magnificent wooden altar in Cracow’s St. Mary's Church. Stoss is believed to have invested his Cracow fee in the gold mines. The Fugerr family, the main stockholders, assured him that his profit would be double or even triple. Unfortunately, the mining came across serious problems and he lost his money. In desperation, Stoss copied the seal and signature of a fraudulent contractor and was sentenced to be branded on both cheeks.

The first half of the 15th century was not fortunate for the mines, the town suffered fires and destruction from the Bohemian Wars (1419-1434).
In 1484 the tide turned, a Mining Office was established and in 1491 the town got an official crest, a flag, and a special Mining Act.
 
The Golden age for the Zloty Stok goldmines came in the beginning of the 16th century.

In 1507 the Prince's mint was moved from Zabkowice Slaskie to Zloty Stok and it started manufacturing golden ducats. This increased the importance of the town and the income too. In the second decade of the 16th century European mining companies started investing here, as the Zloty Stok mines, nearly 200 of them, produced about 8% of the total amount of European gold.

Unfortunately, with the rapid growth of gold production the owners tried to maximize the profit paying less attention to new technologies or safety, this lead to several mining catastrophes. One of the biggest was the demolition of „Zloty Osiol” (Golden Donkey) shaft, 72m deep. There were 59 casualties. The bodies were never removed as the shaft was never cleared. The Golden Donkey tragedy was the beginning of tough times for the mines. In the end the Fugger family decided to stop investing and withdraw their stakes.

It is worth mentioning, that the gold from Zloty Stok played an important role in the history of the world. The Fugger family with their gold supported the Spanish Queen Isabella, who in consequence could help Christopher Columbus on his trip which ended in the discovery of America.

The Zloty Stok mines were also famous for the first use of black powder (gunpowder) explosives for crushing rocks (1612).
Bad times continued throughout the 16th century, numerous accidents, fires and plaques ruined the town. One of the plagues itself killed 1100 people, The Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) destroyed what was left, and the town was almost dead.



A turning point came when Hans Schärffenberg, a chemist and an alchemist, settled there. He managed to find the way of processing arsenic trioxide from the local ore. That made Zloty Stok the world leading producer of arsenic trioxide. However, the ore deposits were soon used up due to the short-sighted policy of Schärffenberg's descendants, this led to bankruptcy of the mines and works.

The revival came in 1848 when a new cheaper method of producing pure gold from heated ore treated with chlorides and alkalis was introduced. It was used here by Wilhelm Güttler who finally bought all the mining fields nearby in 1883. His descendants kept the mines until 1945. Thanks to their efforts a railway connecting Zabkowice Slaskie with Zloty Stok was built. Also, they introduced several elements of new mining technology such as a narrow-gauge electricity powered underground railway for transporting the ore. The rails were laid in „Gertruda” adit which is presently used as an entrance gallery to the mine.

The Second World War had no effect on the mines, and were in good condition, after 1945 the Polish authorities started to manage them and miners from Upper Silesia were sent to continue the work. There was just one German worker who did laboratory training for some time after 1945.
In 1948 the search for new gold deposits started. In 1962 for unexplained reasons the mine was closed by the Polish central authorities. (We have to remember that during the time of the communist regime in Poland all sorts of more or less sensible decisions were made with no further explanation).
It was considered a strange decision, because after WW2 the mine produced about 20-30 kg of gold per year, in 1961, for unknown reasons, it suddenly dropped to 7kg. The shafts and galleries soon became filled with water due to the un-functioning system of pumps. 700 years of mining at Zloty Stok produced around 16 tons of gold

The mine was abandoned for 35 years. It was decided to restore the main galleries for tourism. The mayor of Zloty Stok, Mr Wiktor Lubieniecki MA headed the support for this new tourist attraction.

So after 5 years, on 28th May 1996 the Underground Tourist Route „Gold Mine” was opened and ready for business.

Nowadays the public can visit some exceptionally interesting adits such as „Gertruda” and „Czarna Gora” (Black Mountain) with the only underground waterfall in Poland (8m high). From 2008 the tourist route also includes the „Czarna Dolna” adit (Black Lower).

There is still a lot to discover in the Zloty Stok goldmines. While exploring the underground world you may come across all sorts of remains from the past: from the bodies of dead miners to the secrets of the Nazis who may have hidden their treasures here.