The Ore Deposit Collection
The ore deposit collection of the Department of Mineralogy and Petrography is part of the mineral collection and currently
comprises about 3,000 ore samples, often from mines long abandoned and ore deposits completely extinct nowadays. The historically
valuable samples are mainly from Austria and the area of the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, but also from Brazil and New
Zealand.
However, representative samples are also present from many other countries in the world, in which they are continuously collected.
Some of the ore deposit suites also contain samples of country rocks as well as processing and metallurgical products, including
slags.
Until the present, we endeavour to enlarge this part of the collection, for example by field trips.
The ore deposit collection is not accessible to the public, but is a very important reservoir of samples for modern investigations (geochemistry, isotopy, age determination, ore microscopy, electron microscopy, archaeometallurgy) and is continuously used for these purposes by national and international geoscientists.
We gladly accept any donations of ore samples!
