Acta Musei Moraviae

Field examination and pan prospecting of remnants after potential exploitation of mineral raw materials on Hostýn Hill (Hostýn Hills)

The Hostýn Hill is storied about occurrence and exploitation of gold, silver and iron, however, these legends are mostly considered to be unrealistic with respect to geological structure of this area. This article is focused on question of potential historical exploitation of natural mineral resources (iron ore, precious metals, limestone, building stone) on Hostýn Hill. During the research seventeen sites were found, where the historical exploitation/prospection could occur. Samples of eluvium have been taken from fourteen sites in order to analyze the heavy minerals composition. Barite, glauconite, garnet, dolomite, rutile, tourmaline, zircon, chloritoid, silicon carbide, anatase and one unknown phase were found in translucent heavy fraction. The opaque fraction was looked for the presence of gold. The rare gold sheets were found in one of the samples, with gold fineness of about 800/1 000. It is concluded that in the area of Hostýn Hill the building stone and limestone were really exploited in the past. The economic mining of iron ores and/or precious metals was not confirmed in our study.