Rare metals in the Erzgebirge Mountains
Research project WISTAMERZ launched

1st July 2015, Freiberg (Germany)

25 years after stop of ore mining in the Erzgebirge Mountains in Germany, a new chapter in the prospecting of mineral resources begins. In the coming four years, high-tech metals such as indium, germanium, antimony, selenium, tellurium, rubidium and tantalum will be systematically surveyed for the first time across this traditional mining area.

The expected results of the investigation of the area with a size of approx. 5000 km² are a comprehensive evaluation of the prospectivity and a new metallogenetic map series, which will present information about the relationship between its geological history and the distribution of the minerals.

The project is being carried out by a consortium of Beak Consultants GmbH, the Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg and the Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology with support by the associated partners AVRUPA Minerals Ltd and Saxore Bergbau GmbH.

The project “Prognose wirtschaftsstrategischer Hochtechnologiemetalle am Beispiel des Erzgebirges (WISTAMERZ)“ is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany (BMBF) in the frame of the funding priority „r4 - Innovative Technologien für Ressourceneffizienz - Forschung zur Bereitstellung wirtschaftsstrategischer Rohstoffe“ within the framework programme „Forschung für Nachhaltige Entwicklung (FONA)“.


Figure: Digital data capture in the field with advangeo® Field Cap software

Contact Project Coordinator:
Dr Andreas Barth
Beak Consultants GmbH
Am St. Niclas Schacht 13
09599 Freiberg Germany
Phone: +49 3731 781350
Fax: +49 3731 781352