PLAVNO MINE NEAR JÁCHYMOV
Introduction
The Plavno Mine was established in 1950 with the sinking of the main Vladimír shaft. The construction of the mine led to the complete disappearance of the original settlement of Plavno, and other nearby small settlements, such as Léno, Hanušov and Arnoltov, gradually vanished as well. The landscape gave way to mining, and operational buildings, waste heaps and technical infrastructure were built in its place. The entire mining complex covered roughly an area of two by two kilometres, and extraction reached depths of around five hundred metres. Total production amounted to about 337 tonnes of uranium, which, although not placing Plavno among the largest mines of the Jáchymov district, certainly did not make it insignificant.
History
The development of the mine belongs to the period of the so-called uranium rush of the 1950s, when the Jáchymov region became one of the most important uranium mining areas in Central Europe. Work in the mines was physically demanding and often dangerous. In addition to civilian employees, political prisoners and forced labourers also worked here, which forms one of the darker chapters of the region’s post-war history. Uranium was considered a strategic raw material at the time, and the pace of opening new deposits reflected this importance.
Several mine workings were gradually driven at Plavno. In 1957 a second major shaft, known as North Plavno, was added. Exploration brought mixed results, but some sections proved exceptionally rich. From a blind shaft on the fourth level, for example, a new ore block was encountered, and veins designated 5 and 5a were among the most productive. Nevertheless, the mine had a relatively short lifespan, and extraction here was probably terminated around 1962 as attention shifted to other deposits in the district.
Description
The principal mine working was the Vladimír shaft, approximately 344.5 metres deep. It was divided into eleven levels, some of which were not mutually connected, which was not unusual in the Jáchymov mining district. At the third level the shaft was connected to the Panorama Mine, meaning that Plavno was not an isolated operation but part of an extensive underground system. Interconnecting mines allowed more efficient ventilation, transport of extracted ore and continued geological exploration.
The ore veins had highly variable thickness, ranging from a few centimetres up to about three metres. Mine passages often followed them one above another in the same direction, corresponding to the typical vein-type geology of the Ore Mountains. The surrounding rock was often strongly coloured reddish-brown by hematite and consisted of a mixture of quartz, mica and other minerals.
The mine is also of mineralogical importance. The rare secondary uranium mineral plavnoite was first described here and named after this locality. It was found on one of the veins at the second level of the Vladimír shaft in small cavities of dark clayey material, where it formed small crystalline aggregates together with other uranium minerals.
Present state
After mining ceased, most surface structures disappeared and the landscape was gradually reclaimed. What remains of the former activity are mainly uneven terrain, overgrown waste heaps and only faint traces of industrial use. The site appears inconspicuous today, and few visitors would suspect that an extensive underground labyrinth once existed beneath the surface.
Today, the Plavno Mine represents a quiet reminder of the time when uranium mining fundamentally shaped the Ore Mountains and the lives of thousands of people. Although it never reached the fame of the largest Jáchymov mines, it remains an important testimony to the technical development of mining and to the dramatic post-war history of this region.
