Abstract
This research was conducted on historical copper slags from Leszczyna and Kondratów in Lower Silesia, Poland. The area, formerly known as the Old Copper Basin, was a mining and smelting centre between the 18th and 20th centuries, with a dominant period in the 19th century. Cu-carbonates and residual chalcocite dominate local strata-bound copper deposits. Ore bodies are restricted to carbonate strata. A geochemical and mineralogical study of slag samples from four research sites allowed us to establish that a low amount of sulphur in slags results from S-poor ores, and pyrite with gypsum was implemented as reducing agents. Arkose sandstones served as a flux. During smelting, oxygen availability was limited, and temperature exceeded 1200 °C (18th- and 19th-century smelting) and 1400 °C (20th-century smelting). Calculated viscosity indexes mark the low efficiency of metal separation between the silicate and metallic phases. The skeletal and dendritic form of the crystals proved that slag melt was relatively rapidly cooled after formation, usually in air conditions. We estimated that approx. 2000 m3 of slag was created during the leading smelter (Stilles Glück) activity. The research provided various details of the historical copper smelting technological process in Leszczyna and Kondratów.
Highlights
Pyrometallurgical slags are common metal smelting remains that record details of their origin in the matter of geochemical and mineralogical imprints pointing to the technological process of their production [1,2] or isotopic composition suggesting the metal deposit from which the ore was mined to be used in a given process [3,4]
Because historical metal smelting technological processes are rarely described in written sources, it is essential to reconstruct this technology based on accessible remains for the recognition of changing technology
The conducted analyses made it possible to recreate in detail the conditions in which the metal smelting process was carried out in the Leszczyna and Kondratów copper smelters (Table 8)
Summary
Pyrometallurgical slags are common metal smelting remains that record details of their origin in the matter of geochemical and mineralogical imprints pointing to the technological process of their production [1,2] or isotopic composition suggesting the metal deposit from which the ore was mined to be used in a given process [3,4]. Because historical metal smelting technological processes are rarely described in written sources, it is essential to reconstruct this technology based on accessible remains for the recognition of changing technology. The Old Copper Basin was one of the most important centres related to copper mining and metallurgy in Central Europe [5]. The first signs of mining activity in Kondratów and Leszczyna date back to the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries [6], but it is assumed that it started as soon as the 13th century [7]. Numerous slag remains have been left in the surrounding environment due to historical smelting activity and are a source of knowledge of the historical smelting process
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