Silver

specimen number:
2273008

location:
Thomas-Munzer shaft, Sangerhausen, Mansfeld-Sudharz, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany

description:
A rich sheet crystallized native silver on matrix.

The Thomas Munzer shaft, located near Sangerhausen in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, was a major underground copper slate mining operation that stood as a cornerstone of the German Democratic Republic industrial infrastructure. Geologically, the deposit targets the famous Kupferschiefer (copper slate), a remarkably persistent, thin, organic-rich marine shale of Upper Permian age that underwent widespread synsedimentary to early diagenetic base-metal mineralization. This dark, carbonaceous shale acts as the primary host rock, carrying exceptionally fine-grained stratiform sulfides, predominantly chalcopyrite, bornite, chalcocite, galena, and sphalerite, often accompanied by trace silver and distinct mineralized zones. Historically, while the broader Sangerhausen district has a centuries-old heritage of shallow mining dating back to the late Middle Ages, large-scale deep development at this specific site began under East German administration in 1947, with full industrial-scale hoisting and production commencing at the newly named Thomas Munzer shaft in 1955. The mine operated continuously for thirty-five years, transforming Sangerhausen into a major industrial center and generating the massive, conical Hohe Linde waste dump that still dominates the regional landscape. Following the reunification of Germany and the subsequent collapse of subsidized state industries, the extraction of copper ore became economically unviable, leading to the final operational shift and permanent closure of the shaft in August 1990, after which the deep underground workings were systematically flooded and sealed.

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