1300
Medieval mining documented around Pezinok
Mining around Pezinok is documented from the beginning of the fourteenth century, initially associated with gold extraction.
Site overview
Pezinok — Kolársky vrch is a former antimony-pyrite mining locality in the Malé Karpaty mountains above Pezinok, Bratislavský kraj. The deposit is identified as one of Slovakia’s largest hydrothermal antimony deposits, hosted in phyllites and black slates of the Pezinok–Pernek crystalline belt. Mining around Pezinok is documented from the medieval period, first for gold and later for pyrite and antimonite.
Small-scale antimony mining at Kolársky vrch began in 1790 and, after interruptions and modern state-enterprise working, ended in 1991 for economic reasons. The record should be treated as the Kolársky vrch deposit area unless a specific adit or shaft can be identified from field evidence.
The supplied coordinates fall outside the stated mining district, so the setting of the recorded site cannot be assigned reliably without correction of the location.
Map
Map markers and directions links are provided for location reference only and do not indicate public access or permission to enter a site.
No site photograph is currently available. Images will be added as field visits are carried out.
History
The mining district around Pezinok in the Malé Karpaty has a long and varied history. Several forms of ore mineralisation occur around Pezinok, and mining is documented from the beginning of the fourteenth century, when gold was worked in the area. From the end of the eighteenth century, pyrite and antimonite became increasingly important. Pyrite from the Pezinok and Pernek districts supplied early chemical production, while antimony became the defining mineral of the Kolársky vrch deposit.
Kolársky vrch is one of the principal deposits of the Pezinok district. It forms part of the Pezinok–Pernek mineralised belt and is recognised as one of Slovakia’s largest hydrothermal antimony deposits. The vein system is hosted in older metamorphic rocks, and the deposit is known for stibnite and secondary antimony minerals, including kermesite. It has also been the subject of environmental research because antimony and arsenic occur in mine drainage and ochre deposits from the abandoned workings.
Small-scale mining of antimony ore at Kolársky vrch began in 1790. Mining continued with interruptions into the twentieth century and passed through the state mining enterprise system after nationalisation. The Pezinok branch of Rudné bane worked antimony, pyrite and gold-bearing mineralisation in the Kolársky vrch area until extraction became uneconomic. Mining finally stopped in 1991. The site is best recorded as Pezinok — Kolársky vrch, rather than by the generic enterprise name Rudné bane.
Timeline
1790
Antimony mining began at Kolársky vrch
Small-scale mining of antimony ore at the Kolársky vrch deposit began in 1790.
1906
Ore flotation introduced at Pezinok
Ore-processing development at Pezinok included early flotation technology connected with antimony and pyrite production.
1991
Antimony mining ended
Antimony mining at Kolársky vrch finally stopped in 1991 for economic reasons.
Sources and records
Mindat: Kolársky vrch deposit, Pezinok, Pezinok District, Bratislava Region, Slovakia; Montanistika.sk: Pezinok mining history; Malokarpatský banícky spolok Pezinok: História; Bratislavský kraj: Zlato, pyrit či antimonit — baníctvo v Malých Karpatoch; scientific literature on the Pezinok-Kolársky vrch antimony deposit and mine drainage.
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