For centuries the Erzgebirge was a reliable source of minerals like iron, copper, tin, tungsten, silver, uranium, fluorspar, lithium. Thousands of kilometres of bore holes were drilled.  In the 20th century, the big uranium deposits, and the tin and tungsten skarn deposits of the Western Erzgebirge were discovered,

At the beginning of the 21st century, it seemed that there was nothing to discover any more. But since 2015, considerable research funds and new technologies led to new results. Today we have a 3D model of the Erzgebirge up to a depth of 3000 m below sea level, a new metallogenic map, and a new geochemical atlas. Artificial intelligence based mineral prospectivity mapping opened new prospectivities. Stratiform tin mineralisations in silicate rocks have been recognised as a separate mineralisation type. The 450 Million year lasting fascinating metallogenic history of the Erzgebirge was reconstructed.

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