!!!Gold, Goldgewinnung

Gold: Traditionally gold was mined in areas near the Danube, in the 
Central Alps between the Drau/Drava and Salzach rivers and in the 
Lavant and Ziller valleys. The Celts are considered to have been the 
first to search for gold in Carinthia (Doellach in the Moelltal 
valley) in the 1%%sup st/%  century B.C. During the High Middle Ages 
gold washing was practised in the rivers and streams of the province 
of Salzburg (e.g. Salzach, Tauern streams). First documented mention 
of gold panning on the Salzach river (near Lichtwunder, Pongau region) 
in the 8%%sup th/%  century. Up to the 18%%sup th/%  century 
sufficient quantities of gold were found in the Fritzbach stream to 
sustain some families. In the 13%%sup th/%  century gold mining 
started in the Rauris and Gastein valleys. Peak production was 
achieved between 1480 and 1560 under the direction of the Weitmoser 
family (Christoff, d. 1558), when 2,954 marks of gold (= 830.07 
kilograms) were extracted; by 1567, however, production had declined 
to 1321, by 1597 to 443 marks of gold, and by 1615 to as little as 92 
marks. Gold was also found in the Lungau region of Salzburg province.

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In Carinthia, gold was mined in the Lavant valley (1400-1700) at 
Kliening near the village of Sankt Leonhard in the 14%%sup th/% 
-16%%sup th/%  centuries and gold panning in the Klieningbach stream 
continued until 1757. Other Carinthian regions where gold was mined 
were the upper Fragant area, the valley of Oberes Moelltal from the 
Pasterze glacier to the villages of Heiligenblut, Winklern, 
Grosskirchheim and Doellach and the Zirknitztal and Grosses and 
Kleines Fleisstal valleys. Around 1446, the Pasterze area was not 
covered with ice and gold was mined extensively. When the glacier 
advanced again in the 16%%sup th/%  and 17%%sup th/%  centuries, 
goldmining was reduced and finally stopped in the 19%%sup th/%  
century. The gold mine at the highest altitude was situated in the 
Guttal valley (alt. 2,900 m). Other mines: Kollnitzen near the town of 
Moertschach, Astental valley. The most influential mining clan in 
Carinthia was the Putz family. Until 1620, Melchior Putz, (who 
financed the construction of a castle in Grosskirchheim and died in 
1583) and his sons mined gold in that region. From the 17%%sup th/%  
century gold extraction declined, the mine at Kliening was closed down 
in 1589, the one in Grosskirchheim in 1640. The mine in Rauris was 
operated by the state until 1875, subsequently by a French- Belgian 
company, and finally closed down in 1906. The Radhausberg mine near 
Badgastein was reopened in 1840, and gold was mined until about 1900. 
It was reopened by the Eldron trust, London, in 1937 and closed in 
1938. Another, rather unsuccessful, attempt was made by Preussag 
company from 1941 to 1944. The tunnel driven in those years (length 
2.5 km) is now used for therapeutic purposes. Since 1956, the history 
of gold mining in Carinthia has been documented in the museum of 
Grosskirchheim castle.

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On the river Danube, gold was washed out of the river´s gravel 
at different places (near Enns, Melk, Zwentendorf, Saeusenstein, 
Langenlebarn, Korneuburg, Klosterneuburg and Mannswoerth). It is 
estimated that the amount of gold that gold panners washed out of the 
gravel up to the mid-19%%sup th/%  century was no more than 20 kg. 
However, the abbeys of Klosterneuburg and Melk own chalices made out 
of Danube gold.

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Gold jewellery sold in Austria has to have at least 14 karat fineness 
and bear a hallmark stating the fineness. Since 1991, private 
individuals have been allowed to purchase gold ingots. In 1994 the 
Oesterreichische Nationalbank owned 34.08 billion ATS worth of gold 
(valued at ATS 60,000 per kilogram).

!Literature
F. Gruber and K. H. Ludwig, Salzburger 
Bergbaugeschichte, 1982; G. Ammerer, Die Entwicklung des Goldbergbaues 
im Rauriser Tal in Salzburg, in: Der Anschnitt 34, 1982; F. 
Florentin, Die letzte Betriebsperiode des Gasteiner und Rauriser 
Goldbergbaues 1938-45, Gasteiner Badeblatt, magazine 1953; F. Gruber, 
Altboeckstein und die juengere Geschichte der Tauerngoldproduktion, 
Boecksteiner Montana 1, Leoben 1979; H. Wiessner, Geschichte des 
Kaerntner Bergbaues, vol. 1, 1950; R. Mayrhofer, Goldwaescherei 
in Nideroesterreich, Jahrbuch fuer Landeskunde von Niederoesterreich, 
NF 30, 1952; Die Donau, exhibition catalogue, Engelszell 1994.


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