Gold deposits of the Czech Republic from a mineral policy perspective

Abstract

Gold production in the region that currently makes up the Czech Republic has a thousand-year-old tradition with peaks around the third century BC, 14th century AD and 20th century AD. In general, approximately 100 metric tonnes were produced by the end of mining in 1994, of which nearly 9 tonnes were produced in the 20th century and approximately 3 tonnes were produced after World War II. Significant gold deposits were discovered during the last extensive exploration conducted in the 1970s to 1995, motivated by the sharp rise in the price of gold at the beginning of the 1970s and in the 1980s. Fifteen deposits with 239 tonnes of geological resources of gold were registered. Another 112 tonnes are recorded as prognosticated resources. None of these deposits are mined, due to unresolved issues involving environmental protection. The exploitation of these deposits is restricted primarily due to concerns regarding the environmental impacts of the mining and processing of extracted minerals. A key aspect of these restrictions is likely the existing ban on the use of cyanide mining technologies. A new and yet-to-be-approved proposal for an updated mineral policy in the Czech Republic is attempting to gradually change this stance. Yet another problem lies in the unfinished surveys of mineral deposits, which would specify the total amount of gold and upgrade the resources to higher categories concerning the level of exploration. Without these, it is impossible to prepare the necessary economic assessments of potential production and of the deposits to the fullest extent of activities involving exploration, mineral extraction and processing, including subsequent reclamation of affected areas, elimination of mining impacts and regeneration of post-mining landscapes. The future of gold deposits in the Czech Republic also greatly depends on future trends in the price of gold and accompanying (by-product) minerals occurring together with gold in mined ores.