The Starucha Stream Valley is located in the eastern part of the Kaczawskie Foothills, near the village of Chełmiec. In the past, it was one of the main mining areas in the region.
The local metamorphic rocks, mainly phyllites and quartz-sericite schists, are intersected by numerous polymetallic veins. Within these veins, minerals such as quartz, hematite, siderite, chalcopyrite, pyrite, galena, and sphalerite occur, exploited for the extraction of iron, lead, and copper. The history of ore exploration dates back to the 13th century, but the development of mining activity and more organized extraction began in the 16th century when the mining town of Sanct Georgenberg, present-day Jerzyków, was established in 1531.
However, the deposits proved to be less promising, and mining quickly declined. The town lost its urban status already in 1561. Subsequent attempts at extraction were made in the early and mid-18th century, and for the last time on a larger scale in the mid-19th century when a smelter operated in the lower part of the valley, closed in 1867. The last exploration work was carried out in the 1920s and 1930s. The remnants of the former mining activities have a diverse character: exploration ditches, depressions from shafts, collapsed and filled entrances to adits, subsidence funnels above adits, and heaps of barren material. Depressions from shafts (pingi) have depths of up to 3 meters and diameters of 10 metres, occurring in series up to 500 metres in length.
Description: Piotr Migoń
