Historic Mining Equipment Heaven In Altenberg, Germany

Tin deposits were first discovered around the small German town of Altenberg in 1440 and for the next five centuries, mining tin provided the primary source of employment for the locals. Fortunately for Altenberg, the deposits of tin ore next to the town proved to be one of the largest in Europe. However, in the 20th century, falling commodities prices stalled tin mining in the state of Saxony. The collapse of the Soviet Union (Saxony was part of East Germany) provided the death blow to the industry. No longer supported by subsidies from the Communist government, mines could not be kept open just for the sake of providing jobs and so, after 550 years of continuous mining in Saxony, the last tin mine closed down in 1991.

Fortunately, officials in Germany appear to be more concerned with preserving their history than their counterparts in the U.S. and so rather than permanently closing the abandoned tin mines and bulldozing all traces of their existence on the surface to bare dirt (I’m looking at you Forest Service), the Germans opted to save as much as they could. A section of the tin mine seen in this video was rehabbed and some of the mining equipment abandoned outside was brought inside the adit to protect it and so visitors could see how it once operated. Other equipment left outside was placed under protective cover.

The incredible stamp mill, finally abandoned in 1952 after more than five hundred years of operation and still containing the unique milling equipment it started out with, was refurbished and preserved in 1957. Interesting that Communist East Germany proved able to protect their (capitalist) industrial history, but we can’t…

*****

All of these videos are uploaded in HD, so adjust those settings to ramp up the quality! It really does make a difference…

You can click here for the full playlist of abandoned mines: https://goo.gl/TEKq9L

If you like these videos on exploring abandoned mines, please subscribe! https://goo.gl/yjPxH1

Thanks for watching!

*****

#ExploringAbandonedMines
#MineExploring
#AbandonedMines
#UndergroundMineExploring

Видео Historic Mining Equipment Heaven In Altenberg, Germany канала TVR Exploring