This silent film from Germany shows operations at the The Ersberg mine, a large open-pit mine located in Eisenerz, Styria, in the central-western part of Austria, 60 km north-west of Graz and 260 km south-west of the capital, Vienna. Erzberg represents the largest iron ore reserves in Austria, having estimated reserves of 235 million tonnes of ore. The mine produces around 2,153,000 tonnes of iron ore per year. According to scholars, the mine was already working in the year 712, but it may have not actually been working until 1512 — the same date that the Oswald church in the village of Eisenerz was opened.
Starting at :11 working on the overburden or abraum is shown, and at :18 the torn-up hillside with its terraces. At :30 mine workers arrive for their shifts and board a funicular railroad that climbs the steep slope. At 1:29 a secondary funicular platform raises workers even higher. At 3:34 a drill is used to punch holes into the rock face then at 3:50 dynamite is inserted and pushed deep into the holes. At 4:30 a warning alarm is sounded on a gong. Miners enter a tunnel at 5:14 and wait for the blast. At 5:22 the detonator is turned and the dynamite explodes. At 6:00 workers emerge to begin excavating the overburden. At 6:49 a massive steam shovel assist in the process, loading rock onto a waiting train. At 9:00 the train arrives at a processing facility and the rock is dumped at 11:00. At 12:10 an electric locomotive track grades the dump area. An animation shows how the tracks can be moved as the dump fills in with crushed rock. At 13:47 a special apparatus moves along the track, which apparently cleans it and ensures it is in the proper gauge.
We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example like: “01:00:12:00 — President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference.”
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
