Idrija in Slovenia – historically significant deposit of mercury
- Author:
- Dalibor Velebil – National museum, Prague, Czech republic
- Source:
- Minerál (Brno) 13 (2005), 3, 204–211
Abstract
In Idrija town (former Idria) in Slovenia mercury ore, cinnabar (cinnabarite), was mined since 16th century till 1994. Over its lifetime, the deposit produced 150 000 tons of mercury. There are two main types of mineralization developed at the Idrija deposit: syngenetic cinnabar finely disseminated in Triassic shales and epigenetic rich massive accumulations of different types of cinnabar ores (locally called steel ore, liver ore, brick ore and coral ore) in Permian and Triassic sedimentary rocks.
Keywords: Triassic period, mercury, cinnabar, cinnabarite, idrialite