Erika Mine, Säulnhof, Stulln, Schwandorf District, Upper Palatinate, Bavaria, Germanyi

Regional Level Types
Erika Mine	Mine (Backfilled)
Säulnhof	Village
Stulln	Municipality
Schwandorf District	District
Upper Palatinate	Administrative District
Bavaria	State
Germany	Country

It is not known when the Erika Mine was first worked, but in a report written in May 1908 no mining activities were mentioned at that time. However, there was a dyke that was worked above ground for fluorspar.

Between 1923 and 1930 the workings went by the name of Pit Lanzenleite. During this period, machines were set up to sink a hoisting shaft down to 20 metres. In 1926 a headframe was erected and the shaft was sunk a further 10 m. In 1927 the shaft was sunk to 39 m and a new floor was installed. There were 28 m and 38 m levels. In 1930 the owner ran into payment difficulties and subsequently filed for bankruptcy as a result of the poor sales situation. The whole property was auctioned off.

In 1930 Emil Hofmann, a government architect from Schweinfurt, bought the former pit/mine at auction. He founded the company "Mineral und Granitwerke Emil Hofmann GmbH" in 1931 and named the fluorspar mine Erika. In the same year it was put back into operation. In 1938 a new double-barreled shaft was sunk and a new winding tower was erected. The mine was also connected to the power grid. Erika Mine was heavily worked for fluorspar between 1940 and 1945, as well as neighbouring Cäcilia Mine, Johannesschacht Mine, Marienschacht Mine and Roland Mine. However, in May 1945 all shafts and underground facilities of the Erika Mine were flooded by bombing raids targeting the power grid of the Oberpfalzwerke. After this, only dewatering and exploration work was carried out at the Erika Mine. From August 1945, because of the coal crisis, miners worked the lignite that was found in parts of the mine. In 1948, fluorspar and baryte production/processing resumed at the Erika Mine. A site geologist in 1952 predicted poor prospects for the future of the facility, but he was completely wrong. Erika continued to produce for 21 years and was the most productive pit in the Wölsendorf district with a vein line of only 200 to 300 metres. In 1953 the shaft was further sunk from 120 m to 180 m. In 1954 the final depth of 180 m was reached. On 25th July 1958 the Erika lignite mining operation was shut down.

Between 1960 and 1966, large-scale investigations were started from the Erika Mine in the direction of the Joachim Mine. In 1968, the company "Flußspatwerk Schwarzenfeld GmbH” (formerly Anton Kallmünzer) acquired the Erika Mine and it continued to operate the mine, which also included the workings of the Joachim Mine where a small quarry was set up. The mine shaft of Joachim was also used as an emergency exit for the easternmost part of the Erika Mine. In their latter years, the main works of Erika Mine, Hermine Mine and Cäcilia Mine all become interconnected underground because the main passages were connected. Together these three mines were responsible for more than half of the total production in the Wölsendorfer fluorspar district.

In 1973 Erika Mine was shut down and in February 1974 the shaft was filled in. As of July 2009 at the former mine site, one building is used privately as a weekend home. The building with an office wing and a winding machine room, including the adjoining nearby open spaces, is used by a motorcycle club, even during the week until late at night.

[In 1957 the mineralogical development of the two veins in the Erika and Cäcilia mines was described as very similar. The fluorspar is coarse-grained, the filling is often streaky (layered), occasionally drusy in the middle. Light and dark green colours predominate alongside colourless grey and violet on the selvage or on the edge against baryte. The fluorspar filling has less radioactivity than the granite. Some of the fluorspar from the Erika pit is even coarser than that from the Cäcilia pit. Its colourful stripes (alternation of differently coloured vein layers) are even more pronounced, chert fragments are rarer than on the Cäcilia vein. Marcasite is often observed in low overlays, although its amount is small overall. Calcite was only observed in the deep levels, more than 150 m below the hanging bank.

In 1967, Dr. Heinz Ziehr, Regensburg, named the following mineral sequence for the Erika mine: Formation III (fluorite IIa & b, quartz IV, baryte I), IV (fluorite III, baryte II), V (pyrite III, marcasite II, linneite, bravoite, chalcopyrite II, zinc blende II, galena III) and VI (quartz V, fluorite IV (xx) plus or minus pyrite, baryte III (xx), chalcopyrite III, kalkspar III (xx), cinnabar. Towards the end of their mining operations the main works of the Cäcilia, Erika and Hermine mines all become interconnected underground because the main corridors were connected. The veins became compact, i.e. not as extensive along the strike, but were relatively continuous in mineralisation and generally with greater depth extensions. Quartz occurred as a wall covering in crystalline coatings that were found in pseudomorphs after large calcite scalenohedrons (hollow forms). Amethyst and eisenkiesel are not uncommon.

In 2000, the following was written about the minerals in the Erika mine: “The Erika mine contained green, pink and blue-violet fluorite. Mostly colourless calcite is often grown on fluorite and dolomite. Pyrite occurs as an impregnation together with uranium pitchblende in the chert breccias or moderately coarse up to 10 cm in fluorite and baryte. Spherical-shelled pitchblende was found as a coating of dark violet fluorite in layers up to 0.5 mm thick on the border to baryte. Uranopilite occurs on weathered pitchblende in tiny, pale yellow to greenish yellow globules. Torbernite occurs together with autunite, uranophane, casolite and uranium ocher. Another mineral mentioned is tiny, almost black, zinc blende crystals”.]

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References