Habachtal emerald mine

Coordinates: 47 ° 12 ′ 10.4 ″  N , 12 ° 22 ′ 9.7 ″  E

Habachtal emerald mine​

Salzburg

The emerald mine Habachtal is a site of emerald in the Habach valley of the Hohe Tauern , in the Pinzgau , Land Salzburg .

The small quarry in a high valley is the most important emerald site in Europe. Today it is no longer profitable, is operated by a local family of emitters and is primarily used for tourism.

Location of occurrence

View towards Berggasthof Alpenrose

The site is in the middle Habach valley in a right side valley, below the Graukogel  ( 2824  m above sea level ).

In steep serpentines you ascend from the Gasthof Alpenrose (at the Madlalm ) over the former Sedl-Alm (Söllalm) to the Leckbachrinne . The Leckbach Gully (also Legbach or Gleckbach , or Söllgraben ) is a ditch that slopes steeply from the east of the Leckbach Scharte  ( 2376  m above sea level ) into the Habach Valley (behind the gap it goes into the Scharrnbachtal , the largest side valley of the Hollersbach Valley) .

The tunnel entrance is at about 2200 meters above sea level . The upper area is at great risk of falling rocks and requires a lot of attention.
About 500 meters from the tunnel , out of the valley below to the right, is the Berghaus , an accommodation hut built in the late 19th century for mining ( 2070  m above sea level  ⊙ ).

The emerald deposit

The Habach Valley emerald

Emeralds from the Habach Valley

The only relevant emerald deposit in Europe is in the Habach Valley - smaller deposits are also known from Norway and Italy.

The Habachtaler is characterized by its very distinctive green color. This may be due to the relatively high chromium content on the one hand and the dark color of the carrier rock on the other. Like all emeralds, it crystallizes in hexagonal prisms , its cleavage is poor and takes place along the (0001) surface perpendicular to the longitudinal axis. The Habach Valley emerald is probably the world's poorest emerald. The prismatic surfaces are always well developed, but indentations often appear. Often an increased growth of two prismatic surfaces can be observed, so that a tabular formation of the crystal occurs.

Flawless crystals were and are seldom found in the Habach Valley. Mostly they have some kind of inclusion and are therefore hardly or not at all sandable. So it is not surprising that some finds of particularly pure emeralds have also been immortalized in local history. Josef Lahnsteiner's book Oberpinzgau mentions, for example, that when the Senninger farmer died in 1732, two gold rings with emeralds belonged to the estate. These most likely came from the Habach Valley.

Habach Valley emeralds can still be viewed today: Large table stones are included in the Imperial Crown Insignia in Vienna. The Dommonstranz zu Salzburg from 1697 contains, among other things, 24 Habachtal emeralds. The Mattsee has a crystal of considerable size (11 x 9 cm) and a chest cross with 5 emeralds. Habach valley emeralds can also be found in the collections of local museums in Bramberg and the neighboring communities ( Neukirchen , Hollersbach or Mittersill ).

Geological conditions

The deposit is located in the Leckbachrinne in the contact area of ​​fiber and ribbon gneisses as well as the serpentine talc schist. At the upper end of the Leckbachrinne, where the mountains break off almost vertically over the Black Wall into the neighboring Hollersbachtal , between chlorite and limestone mica schist there are deposits of serpentine , which here is broken down into talc . It differs from the somewhat deeper serpentine in its darker color and richness in minerals. B. grenades of various kinds, diopside , actinolite or clinochlor . This serpentine then bites deeper in the Leckbachgraben just above the Klamml . Small amounts of shiny slate , interspersed with individual ore lenses, occur here. Chalcopyrite (copper pyrites), pyrite and silver-containing galena ( galena ) are also found here .

The emerald is a gemstone with a hardness of 7.5–8 . It is a color variety of the silicate mineral beryl . The geological requirement is the presence of pegmatite , an igneous rock as well as granite , gneiss and slate . The element beryllium is found in the carrier rock in the Habach Valley , which is why the crystalline formation of emeralds can occur here at all. The gemstone gets its green color from the element chromium , which is mainly found in serpentine.

Geological historical research

Regardless of their material value, the Habach emeralds have become important in the exploration of trade routes since ancient times. The deposit-specific “fingerprint” of stones is measured, in this case the ¹⁸ O composition. The Habachers have a δ ¹⁸ O value of 7.50 (± 0.5) ‰, which is unique for the European-Mediterranean region.

History of mineral mining

Early history guesses

As early as the Bronze Age , people are said to have been digging for the "green gold" here. According to tradition, the emerald deposits in the Habach Valley were also known to the Romans again. According to legend, Emperor Nero owned a Habachtal emerald cut into a monocle , which makes it all the better to see, but above all green. It is not known to what extent the Romans actually pursued targeted mining. Although pre-Roman mining is well documented in high alpine locations in the entire Alpine region and especially in Oberpinzgau, there are no archaeological findings directly in the Habach Valley. There are also no reliable sources for mining in the High Middle Ages.
In addition to mining, for any early evidence, chance and washing finds at Habach and Salzach are of course also possible.

17th to 20th century

In the 17th century, the mining of emeralds was started. The productivity of the deposit is very low. Economic exploitation was attempted, but was seldom successful. In particular, the high alpine location and thus the difficult accessibility ruined most attempts and often led to the bankruptcy and ruin of the operators.

It is known from 1669 - as the first evidence - that the Florentine Anna von Medici commissioned the Danish naturalist Nils Stensen , who was then a professor in Florence, to get an idea of ​​the productivity of the deposit. The first descriptions of the emerald occurrence in the "Heubach Valley" also come from 1797, and then the middle of the 19th century.

Around 1860, a Viennese jeweler named Samuel Goldschmidt acquired the deposit, built the accommodation hut (the Berghaus ) that still exists today and began the systematic excavation of three tunnels. From this time comes the most valuable Habach Valley emerald ever found, with 42  carats , which is located in the British Crown Jewels and is kept in the London Tower.
A fourth tunnel was added later. From 1903, when Esmerald Mines Ltd., London, prospected, a yield of “32,000 carats of unclear emeralds and 7,000 carats of better ones” has been reported.

There had been no regulated emerald mining operations since 1939.

Today's mining and tourism business

In 2004 Alois and Andreas Steiner from Bramberg leased the rights to the emerald mining (from the tunnel). They are passionate mineral collectors (locally known as "emitters") and are thus able to meet a certain demand for emerald-containing mineral grades from collectors.

For several decades the Habach valley has been attracting many hobby mineral collectors. This gemstone deposit is also heavily advertised for tourism. This is how the village of Bramberg, in whose municipality the Habach valley is located, is also called the “emerald village of Bramberg”. A new hotel was built at the entrance to the valley, which serves as a base for many mineral collectors.

Even if it is not possible to excavate the rock using tunnels , there are many smaller emeralds in the gravel area of ​​the Leckbach. They are found by washing out - similar to panning for gold . With patience and luck, it is still possible to find emeralds today. Due to their rarity, such finds acquire quite considerable collector's value.

The modern treasure hunters can be found in this very beautiful and natural valley all year round, except in the winter months, when there is a high risk of avalanches and the snow makes it impossible to access the sites anyway.

literature

• Ludwig Düllmann: Emerald Search (r) in the Habach Valley: History and Little History . book-on-demand.de, 2009, ISBN 978-3-86805-399-9 . ( limited preview in Google Book Search; diary of a stone seeker 1976–2009).
• Günter Grundmann, Giulio Morteani: The geology of the emerald deposits in the Habach Valley (Land Salzburg, Austria). In: Arch. F. Storage research Geol. B.-A. Volume 2, Vienna, September 1982, ISSN  0253-097X , pp. 71-107. ( pdf on: geologie.ac.at )
• Günter Grundmann: Emerald. (extra Lapis No.1.) Christian Weise, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-921656-22-2 .
• Günter Grundmann, F. Koller: Excursion: The emerald mine in the Habach Valley, Land Salzburg, Austria. In: Mitt. Österr. Miner. Ges. 148, 2003, pp. 317-343. ( pdf on: uibk.ac.at )
• Gerhard Niedermayr: Minerals and emerald mining in the Habach Valley. Bode, Haltern 1991, ISBN 3-925094-20-2 .
• Josef Lahnsteiner: Emerald mining in the Habach Valley . In: Oberpinzgau from Krimml to Kaprun. A collection of historical, art-historical and local history notes for friends of the homeland. Hollersbach 1965, pp. 304-308. ( online repro on: Jetzt.at >> Documentation >> Mining and metallurgy )

Web links

Commons : Emerald mine Habachtal  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• The emerald mine in Habach Valley - website of Mineralien Steiner, Bramberg (with photos of the contemporary mining operation)
• Entry on Smaragdweg im Habach Valley in the Austria Forum  (in the Heimatlexikon)
• Entry on Smaragd in the Austria forum

proof

• H. Pech: Emeralds - crooks and dreamers . Umschau-Verlag et al., Frankfurt am Main et al. 1976, OCLC 2875001 .
• Grammaccioli: The minerals of the Alps . Franckh, Stuttgart 1978, ISBN 3-440-04434-3 .
• Emerald . In: mineralienatlas.de

1. ↑ see references
2. ↑ G. Giuliagni include: Oxygen Isotopes and Emerald Trade Routes Since Antiquity. In: Science. vol. 287, 2000, pp. 631-633. Information according to Grundmann / Koller, Mitt. Österr. Miner. Ges. 2003, introduction
3. ↑ for example the 51.5 carat of the Holy Crown of France of St. King Louis IX. (1226–1270) seen as a possible Habachtaler. Lit. Grundmann / Koller, Mitt.Österr.Miner.Ges. 2003, p. 320 (pdf p. 4).
4. ^ KM Schroll: Outline of a Salzburg mineralogy, or brief systematic display of the minerals of the principality and archbishopric of Salzburg known up to now. In: KE Freih. von Moll (Ed.): Jb. Berg- u. Hüttenk. 1, 1797, pp. 95-196.
5. ↑ These are in particular:
   J. Frischholz: About the Salzburg Smaragd. In: N. Jb. Berg and Hüttenk. , ed. v. KE Freih. von Moll, 4, Nuremberg 1821, pp. 382–385.
   Letter from Mr. Karl F. Peters to Mr. G. Rose. Vienna, May 10, 1862. In Z. Dt. Geol. Ges. 14, No. 2, Berlin 1862, pp. 248-250.
   MV Lipold: Report on the occurrence of emeralds in the Habachthaie of the Ober-Pinzgau in the Salzburg region. Seat area of December 15, 1863, in: Verh. KK geol. Reichsanst., Jb. KK geol. Reichsanst. Wien , 13, no. 4, Vienna 1863, pp. 147–148.
   Information according to Lit. Grundmann / Morteani, Arch.f.Lagerst.forsch.Geol.B.-A. 1982, 1.4 Editing of the emerald deposit so far , p. 75 column 1 (pdf p. 5)
6. ↑ Lit. Lahnsteiner: Oberpinzgau , 1965 (online)
7. ↑ Lit. Grundmann / Morteani, 1982, 1.5 Geschichte des Smaragd Bergbaues , p. 75 column 2 (pdf p. 5);
   more detailed information in reference Lahnsteiner: Oberpinzgau , 1965 (online)