Tyrol Group

mining heritage

The Kitzbühel and Schwaz Legacy: Copper, Silver, and the Habsburg Mining Economy

The Kelchalpe area near Kitzbühel lies within one of the most celebrated historical mining districts in the Alps. The Kitzbühel copper mines were among the most productive in the medieval world, making this region a cornerstone of the Tyrolean mining economy under the Habsburgs. Mining activity spans from prehistoric Bronze Age extraction through Roman-era gold workings to the intensive shaft mining of the 16th century — when the Röhrerbühel mine was the deepest shaft in Europe at 886 meters.

The Mühlbach, Mitterberg, and Kelchalpe operations produced copper continuously for centuries. By 1830, the Kupferplatte mine alone had 16,579 meters of underground workings and 2,243 meters of shafts. These are not small-scale historical workings — they are evidence of substantial mineral systems that were exploited at industrial scale, and that remain open at depth.

To the west, the Schwaz-Brixlegg district holds one of the most significant silver mining legacies in European history. Mining here spans more than 3,500 years, from Bronze Age extraction through a major revival at Schwaz in the 15th century. Production peaked between 1506 and 1545, when the Falkenstein mine ranked among the largest silver mines in the world and is recorded to have held roughly 300 kilometers of underground workings. By historical accounts, the district yielded an estimated half of the silver and copper produced across the Holy Roman Empire during the 16th century. The carbonate-hosted fahlore systems that fed those workings remain the focus of Ekometall's modern exploration at Brixlegg.