Year | Name | Location | Size | Explanation |
---|---|---|---|---|
2600 BC - 2100 BC | ![]() |
Norfolk, Great Britain | 400 pits 13m deep | the best preserved and largest Neolithic flint mine |
600 BC - 50 BC | ![]() |
Oberösterreich, Austria | 4.5km long, 280m deep | The most important celtic salt mine. Brine springs were used since 4.000 BC. |
100 BC | ![]() |
Las Médulas, Spain | 22km² open cast | Largest gold mine in the Roman Empire. |
968 AD - 1980 | ![]() |
Harz, Germany | 10km² | the most important silver mine during the middle ages |
1200s - 1992 | ![]() |
Falun, Dalarna Province, Sweden | open cast 95m deep, 400m long and 350m wide | in the 1600s, the mine supplied two thirds of European copper, in total 30 million tons of ore |
1426-1550 | ![]() |
Tirol, Austria | 250 tunnels with more than 500km length in total | during the 15th and 16th century the biggest silver mine of the world, until American mines produced cheaper silver. |
1871-1914 | ![]() |
South Africa | 215m deep hole | the world’s largest diamond mine, owned and operated by De Beers produced some 15 million diamonds |
1866-1884 | Malakoff Diggins | California, USA | 2.133m long, 914m wide, 182m deep | during the gold rush in California the biggest hydraulic mine in the world |
1910-1950 | ![]() |
Minnesota, USA | 8km long, 3.2km wide, 180m deep | produced one-fourth of all iron ore mined in the United States between 1910 and 1950 |