Acta Musei Moraviae

Topography of historical mines and ore mineralizations in area of the Bílý potok, Western Moravia

Remnants of historical mines for iron- and base-metal ores were re-investigated among villages Javůrek, Maršov, Svatoslav, Přibyslavice and Lesní Hluboké, in area 20 km NW from Brno (Czech Republic). The mines are situated at the contact of two geological complexes of Precambrian age, between Moravicum (Bílý potok unit) and Brunovistulicum in the Svratka Dome; minor tectonic slices of sedimentary Devonian rocks occur in the area. The first base-metal exploitation in the Javůrek ore district took probably place in the 13^th to 16^th century; however, mining was not greater importance and only sporadic prospecting works for Ag-Pb ores were conducted during the second half of the 18^th century. Mining of the iron ores for local iron mills developed significantly during the 17^th century. The iron deposits are represented mainly by limonite-rich weathering products of various iron-bearing rocks (limestones, magnetite-chlorite rocks) which were originally commonly penetrated by hydrothermal iron-rich carbonates of the dolomite group. Ore from those small local deposits supplied mainly two blast furnaces situated in the Bílý potok valley (Šmelcovna, N from Javůrek) and in Zastávka u Brna. New research of all deposits confirmed nine separate ore mineralization types of different age and genesis: (1) metamorphic magnetite accumulations in chloriterich rocks; (2) siderite-magnetite-grunerite (± pyrite) and pyrite-siderite ores; (3) hydrothermal chalcopyrite-tetrahedrite quartz veins with barite; (4) hydrothermal galena-barite veins (± chalcopyrite, pyrite, sphalerite, quartz); (5) alpine-veins resembling sphalerite-galenite-dolomite mineralization on fissures of phyllites; (6) hydrothermal fluorite-barite (± quartz) veins; (7) barite-bearing silicified limonitehematite ores; (8) goethite-rich residual iron ore and (9) manganese residual ore (psilomelane). Brief information about ores mineralogy is presented.