Bludná vein, Potůčky, Karlovy Vary District, Karlovy Vary Region, Czech Republici

Regional Level Types
Bludná vein	Vein
Potůčky	Municipality
Karlovy Vary District	District
Karlovy Vary Region	Region
Czech Republic	Country

Old iron mine.
Located near Horní Blatná town.

The iron ore mine "Hilfe Gottes" was the largest iron ore mine near Horní Blatná (mountain town Platten) at that time. The mine is first mentioned in 1562 and was then operated until the end of the 19th century and then for a short time during the First World War. The old Göpelschacht near our location was closed in 1884. The nearby Gustav Pit, which was part of the “ Hilfe Gottes” mine, was still in operation during the First World War and shortly afterwards. At that time the mine belonged to the Škoda works in Pilsen.

The iron came in the form of hematite, which was found in agglomerations in the quartz vein of the so-called Bludná fault. The radiating, fibrous formations with a shiny spherical surface, so-called "rote Glasköpfe" ("red glass heads"), were up to 0.5 meters in size. Today these can be admired in many museum collections. The best pieces were already separated from the ore at the end of the 19th century and delivered to stone cutters and natural product dealers. Hematite has also been used to a lesser extent to produce red pigment. The profitability of mining could be improved by local manganese and tin ore deposits.

The iron came in the form of hematite (blood stone), which was found in agglomerations in the quartz vein of the so-called bludná fault. The radiating, fibrous formations with a shiny spherical surface, so-called red glass heads, were up to 0.5 meters in size. Today can be admired in many museum collections. The best pieces were already separated from the ore at the end of the 19th century and delivered to stone cutters and natural product dealers. Hematite has also been used to a lesser extent to produce red pigment. The profitability of mining could be improved by local manganese and tin ore deposits.

The "Irrgangstörung" is a huge fault zone in the NW-SE direction that can be traced from Mariánská via Hřebečná to Potůčky and further to Saxony. It has a total length of 32 km, of which 18 km on the Czech side. In Saxony, the continuation is known under the name Rothgrübner and Neujahr, in the Jáchymov ore district in the southeast as the central fault. The passage filling is mainly represented by quartz. In Bludná this zone is up to 18 meters wide.

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