Lungau
01.08.2018 09:16
The search for the gold starts again
Is the Gontal a gold valley?
Three years after a company has completed its test drilling for gold in the Muhr district of Rotgülden, another company now wants to try their luck. She owns the mining rights in Schellgaden and has filed an application with the Montanbehörde for investigations.
The "gold diggers" in Muhr - a topic that occupied the National Park community a few years ago and is now being dug up again.
The Australian company High Grade Metals, which owns the mining rights in the area of Schellgaden, has filed an application with the Montan authority. It wants to carry out research there in order to locate any deposits.
The company is not the first to go on a treasure hunt in Lungau. In 2011, the British mining company "Noricum Gold", which has since renamed itself "Georgian Mining Corporation", started its first exploration work at the deposit in Rotgülden. For four years was looking for gold-bearing silver and copper ores. In 2013, 15 test bores were approved, which were made in the local Friedrichstollen. Two years later it was said that while they had drawn promising gold samples, they needed a sponsor.
So now a new attempt in Schellgaden, where the alpine area Gontal is located. The Australian company divides the project into two areas: Schellgaden Nord, which stretches over 69k and south (31k). Muhr Mayor Sepp Kandler knows: "The drilling would be similar to that in Rotgülden. The interventions in the landscape and nature are very limited, because the holes have only a few centimeters in diameter. "These towed cores are examined for their gold content, only then it turns out, whether a reduction would be worthwhile. "If it did happen, everything has to be put on the table. Then the facts count and it is not decided on the basis of emotions, "says the local boss.
If there is a "go" from the authorities, there are likely to be further negotiations with the landowners. But one thing is already clear, namely how the workers get to the respective potential deposits. In any case, the access roads would not be via the Katschberg but via freight routes in Schellgaden.
The company has also kept an eye on Leogang and has already prepared geological reports or wants to carry out test drilling there as well. This is not about gold deposits but about cobalt, copper and nickel.
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