Silberwald (Le Sattel), Stosswihr, Fecht valley (Munster valley), Haut-Rhin, Alsace, France

Ancient silver and antimony mines, started well before 1517 (possibly in the 13th century) and abandoned in the early 17th century. Attempts to re-work some of the mines in 1900 remained unsuccessful. Historic documents dating back to the 16th century mention up to nine active mines in the area around Stosswihr, both in the Silberwald and Lehmatt deposits. Systematic archaeological exploration works started in 1972 did lead to the re-discovery of five mines in the Silberwald area; their names are "Auf der Reben", "Auf der Eyl", "Im Wildfang", "Tiergarten" and "Zum Lauch".

The deposit consists of two NNE-SSW trending quartz veins hosted by pyrite- and arsenopyrite-bearing granite. The western vein, which was the more important, did reach a height of up to 20 m. The main ore was stibnite, accompanied by freibergite as the major source of copper and silver.

Located in the forest between Le Sattel and Gaschney mountain.


Refs.:
- FRICKE, G. (1985): Mineralienfunde in den Vogesen. - Aufschluss 36, 1-17.
- FLUCK, P. & STEIN, S. (1992): Espèces minérales des principaux districts miniers du massif vosgien. - Pierres et Terre 35, December 1992, 120 pp.
- HOHL, J. L. (1994): Minéraux et Mines du Massif Vosgien. - Ed. du Rhin, Mulhouse.
- U. Kolitsch (1997): New mineral occurrences from some localities in the Vosges, France: Osenbach, Stahlberg and Stosswihr. Aufschluss 48 (3), 183-192. (in German)