The mineral deposits are found on the hillside of the range known as Kaff (today Daremný) and were discovered and mined from the 16th century. The heyday of mining in the area was in the 18th and at the beginning of the 19th centuries. In the 1890s and 1920s there were attempts made at new explorations, and also in the years between 1959 and 1967 there were some drilling explorations made by the National Geological Institute.
The main minerals mined were copper and tin. Unfortunately no records exist as to how much was mined in the 16th and 17th centuries. Iron ore of which there is a substantial amount in the area was not mined, as it is tainted with zinc and copper which decreased its quality and made work with the resulting steel more difficult.
By the 16th century the extent of mineral deposits in the area was known and minerals were mined from so‐called mineral veins, e.g. Johannes Silbergang mine – silver vein. Mining ceased to operate completely in the area during the Thirty Years' War and it was not until 1716 that rich copper veins were discovered which also included 260 g/t of silver. At this time copper and silver were the main minerals mined even though there are some records of tin being mentioned. The Johannes Silbergang mine annually smelted around 500 kg of copper, but eventually interest swayed towards the mining of tin.
By the middle of the 18th century the mine was producing 400 kg of copper and 1700 kg of tin annually. By 1811 the Johannes Silbergang mine was at its height, and was also the largest mine in the area, employing some 20 miners. However, the mine reached its limits at this time, as increased and substantial groundwater flooding began complicating the mining process and also the minerals mined were technologically difficult to process. In the 1840s mining came to an almost complete halt in the area with mines being operated only with the minimal of investment.
Johann Thaddäus Anton Peithner Von Lichtenfels
Johann Thaddäus Anton Peithner Von Lichtenfels was a notable figure in the development of Czech mining and mining sciences; he was a mining and metallurgy expert. Johann was born in Boží Dar and his grandfather was Boží Dar's reeve who also in part owned mines in Kaffu. He was a mining professor in Banská Štiavnica, he also worked in the Czech Royal Mint, and in 1762 proposed the creation of the department of geology, mineralogy, and mining and metallurgy at the University of Prague (founded by Maria Theresa in 1763), the first university in the world to offer such a course. His main published work: Versuch über die natürliche und politische Geschichte der böhmischen und mährischen Bergwerke (Attempt to Cover the Natural and Political History of Czech and Moravian Mines).
