Mining has been practised since the Stone Age, through the Middle Ages and up to the present day. While mines were initially used to obtain flint, mineral ores and smelting techniques were later discovered and developed so that metals could be obtained from them. In Switzerland, many mines still exist and bear witness to the hard work that went on underground. Most of them originate from the past century. Metal finds and smelting residues (slag) provide evidence that mining occurred in Switzerland even in pre-Christian times.

Mining describes seeking and developing (exploring), extracting and preparing mineral deposits from the upper layer of the Earth’s crust by using technical equipment and tools. When raw materials are mined using tunnels and shafts, this is called “underground mining” in mining terminology. If mineral deposits are being mined near the surface, this is known as “open-cast mining”. Extracting flint as a raw material was the oldest form of mining. The oldest mine is the Lion Cave in Swaziland, which is estimated to be around 43,000 years old. When mining began, it was very localised and its importance was limited to the local area that it supplied. Ore mining and the development of smelting techniques meant that different metals could be produced, which propelled technological advancement. Smelting describes all the processes used to obtain and process metals and other elements useful in metallurgy (translated from the German.

In Switzerland, the main mineral ores mined were those containing lead, zinc, copper, iron and gold. Silver was obtained by smelting lead ores. In addition to mineral ores, coal and salt were also mined. Coal and salt are consumable goods, which means they indirectly support cultural development. There are many mines in Switzerland, but none of them have very large mineral ore deposits. That is why many mines have been abandoned as unprofitable over the last 200 years, including the largest ones. These include the Gonzen mine in Sargans, St. Gallen, and the Herznach mine in Frick, Aargau. During World Wars I and II, there was a temporary, intensive search for new mining locations. Existing mines that were suitable for expansion became active once more. All these mining activities gave rise to systems up to several kilometres long. These underground mines consisted of tunnels and shafts. Tunnels are horizontal routes that enable exploration and allow raw materials to be extracted. Shafts are vertical and form a link between multiple tunnels. The shafts were used to transport mineral ores within the mine (known as “hoisting shafts”) or used by the mine workers to get to their workplaces (“climbing shafts”). Since a mine could entail a very wide range of tasks, they were workplaces for quite a number of people, including miners, carpenters, carters, wood cutters, smelter workers and blacksmiths.

Of the mines remaining in Switzerland today, some were opened around 500-600 years ago. However, the earliest and oldest evidence of mining is seen in the landscape through geological impacts. This is because most mines and human settlement activities have since disappeared. Evidence of mining activity can now only be provided by dated findings. Inspecting shafts that have been left behind from mining work is often dangerous. Metals have rusted, timbers are rotten and tunnels have collapsed. Mine workers operated in the most difficult of circumstances, and they are worthy of great respect. Their work made a significant contribution to the start of this industry, which enabled developments in chemical technology during the last century. Deep inside mines, there are many traces of former mining work, and although Switzerland was never in a position to produce a true mining culture from this work, mining still influenced Swiss lives on an individual level as well as in technical and scientific fields. It also continues to impact our lives today.

Mine tourism
Today, some of these mines and tunnels are used for tourism, such as the Gonzen mine in St. Gallen, the Bex Salt Mines in the Vaud, the La Presta Asphalt Mines in the Val-de-Travers in Neuchâtel, the Engi Slate Mine in Glarus and the Silberberg open-cast mining museum in Davos, Graubünden. Mining associations offer tours, often using the electrically powered mine trains and wagons that were used when the mines were active. They aim to inform the population about the history of mining, and to preserve the mines as important, cross-regional memorials to the mining industry.