The monograph is the first comprehensive work on mining history, geology and mineralogy of this largest mine in Slovenia. It describes all known and few newly discovered minerals, with special focus dedicated to wufenite, the main mineral of the oxidation zone. The Mežica mine is particularly famous for the unusual pyramidal and bipyramidal crystals of wulfenite. Due to their lower symmetry mežica wulfenite displays two new types of twinning in wulfenite were identified and named after their localities as Igrčevo- and Doroteja-Laws. The monograph is illustrated with over 240 high-quality photographs and drawings of superb mineral specimens. It is published in Slovene, German and English.
COBISS.SI-ID: 24020775
This is the first comprehensive study of mineralogy of the world's second largest mercury mine Idria. Mineralogy is explained in terms of geological processes that were active during the formation of the deposit. Among these, hydrocarbons present in the host rocks, play most important role during crystallization. The central part of the book is dedicated to the main mineral of the ore deposit, cinnabar. It occurs in a variety of crystal forms, of which the most special are lateral interpenetration twins. The book contains 160 color photographs and 24 drawings of superb mineral specimen. It is written for a broad readership, and will be interesting for geologists, mineralogists and crystallographers, and those interested in the history of mineral collecting in Idria. Slovene original was translated to English, German and Italian and published by Bode and Springer.
COBISS.SI-ID: 1115125
Under regular conditions wulfenite crystallizes in a scheelite crystal structure (s.g. I4/a). In this study we investigated hemimorphic crystals from Mežica. They showed a lack of mirror symmetry and belong to the lower I4 symmetry. Noncentrosymmetricity of the wulfenite crystals was attributed to partial replacement of Pb by Mo. Due to lower symmetry the crystals are prone to inversion twinning as shown by Rečnik (2010).
COBISS.SI-ID: 24679463
Pb–Zn ore deposit Mežica is characterized as Mississippi Valley-type ore deposit, hosted by the Middle to Upper Triassic platform carbonate rocks in the Northern Karavanke/Drau Range geotectonic units of the Eastern Alps. The δ34S values indicate the contribution of H2S from hydrolysis of biogenic pyrite and thermal decomposition of organo-sulfur compounds. The results suggest that the discordant orebodies originated by mixing of hydrothermal saline metal-rich fluids with H2S-rich pore waters, while the discordant orebodies were formed by remobilization of fluids.
COBISS.SI-ID: 873822
Our investigations confirmed that soils in the wider Idrija surroundings are highly contaminated with Hg. The most important sources of mercury in soils in Idrija were atmospheric emissions from ore roasting plants. Hg gasses and dust particles spread far into the Idrija environs. Mercury is therefore present in soils at localities far from the ore outcrops. Many small but extremely contaminated areas were identified in the woods of the Idrija environs, where ore roasting was performed in the 16th and 17th centuries. Hg-rich parent material in the city of Idrija was identified in the bedrock of Pront-area, where ore-bearing rocks containing native mercury and cinnabar crop out. As the wastes of roasting were dumped along the banks of the Idrijca River the floodplain soils along the lower Idrijca Valley are highly contaminated with mercury.
COBISS.SI-ID: 2101077