POLAND - Tarnowskie Góry Lead-Silver-Zinc Mine and its Underground Water Management System

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INSCRIPTION/INSCRITO: 2017

Located in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland, one of the main mining areas of central Europe, the property includes the entire underground mine with adits, shafts, galleries and other features of the water management system. Most of the property is situated underground while the surface mining topography features relics of shafts and waste heaps, as well as the remains of the 19th century steam water pumping station. The elements of the water management system, located underground and on the surface, testify to continuous efforts over three centuries to drain the underground extraction zone and to use undesirable water from the mines to supply towns and industry. Tarnowskie Góry represents a significant contribution to the global production of lead and zinc.Tarnowskie Góry Lead-Silver-Zinc Mine and its Underground Water Management System is located in the Silesian plateau of southern Poland, in one of Europe’s classic metallogenic provinces. It possesses a monumental underground water management system that reflects a 300-year ingenious development of hydraulic engineering.

The mining and water management system was constructed in flat and technically challenging terrain, a gently undulating plateau at an elevation between 270-300 m above sea level; the difference between the highest and lowest points amounts to less than 50 m. This is unusual in that most European metalliferous deposits are located in mountainous terrain, an occurrence that heavily influenced drainage techniques, in particular. The underground system at Tarnowskie Góry experienced up to three times the volume of water inflow compared to other major European metal mines at the time and eventually comprised a water catchment of over 50 km of main drainage tunnels and 150 km of secondary drainage adits, access tunnels, shafts and extraction areas. This surviving network is complemented by substantial remains of the principal water management infrastructure, both above and below ground, together with directly connected surface elements that comprise essential mining landscape features.