Day 7 (1): Zinnwald visitor mine

I spent the night in the forest, at the parking lot of the visitor mine. It was really idyllic and quiet. However, I also slowly realized that truly restful sleep is something different. It's a bit cramped in the car and I wake up regularly at 5 o'clock in the morning with the first rays of sunshine. A good coffee works wonders in the morning.

After I was somewhat awake, the parking lot filled up quickly. At 10 o'clock there was a guided tour of the mine, which I also joined directly. It was really exciting, so far I have only visited larger, well-developed mines. Here it was possible to get cozy and tight, with a ceiling height of only 1.50 meters, the helmet was actually a useful accessory. So the tour was really adventurous.

Another special feature was that the mine went beyond the border. An underground border is also something I have never seen before. Mining was carried out from both sides, so theoretically you can exit on the other side in the Czech Republic.

In addition to tin, there are also tungsten and lithium deposits in Zinnwalde. Unfortunately, the mine experienced its heyday during the World Wars, a large part of the important tungsten for the war economy came from here. As you can imagine, mainly prisoners of war and forced laborers were used at that time. After the Second World War, it quickly lost its importance.

Thanks to the discovered lithium deposits, there will be active mining here again, probably starting in 2027/2028. There are around 125,000,000 tons of lithium available here. The mining will last for over 40 years.

Afterwards, I continued to Cranzahl.