Utilization of simple presentation methods for comparative studies in the historical mining // Wykorzystanie metod prostej prezentacji w studiach porównawczych historii górnictwa

The article deals with two important sites of the copper cementation process in historical mine deposits, namely Spania Dolina and Smolník in Slovakia. It analyzes these two historical mining sites from several points of view, such as their significance at the time, applied technologies and philosophers interested on it. For comparison, simple presentation methods were used based on graphic and animation software. The methods show historical mining in a broader context making it possible to combine its developments with other historical facts. The paper used presentation methods for comparing technologies and knowledge about cementation waters in two Slovak historical mining locations - Smolník and Spania Dolina. //Artykuł przedstawia dwa ważne, historyczne ośrodki górnictwa rud metali: Dolinę Szpanią i Smolnik na Słowacji, w których zastosowano cementacyjną metodę odzysku miedzi. Oba ośrodki historycznego górnictwa analizowano z różnych punktów widzenia, np. ze względu na ich znaczenie w porządku chronologicznym,zastosowane technologie i zainteresowanie ze strony uczonych filozofów. Do celów porównawczych zastosowano metody prostej prezentacji oparte na oprogramowaniu graficznym i animacyjnym. Takie metody pozwoliły na ukazanie historycznego górnictwa rud w szerszym kontekście, tak by połączyć opis jegorozwoju z innymi faktami historycznymi. Zastosowano metody prezentacyjne do porównania technologii i wiedzy na temat roztworów cementacyjnych w obu słowackich historycznych okręgach górniczych: Smolniku i Dolinie Szpaniej

Geotouristic excursion to selected historical mining sites developed by Slovak and German miners in the Gelnica-Smolník region, Slovakia

The following paper summarizes the history of Gelnica, Smolník and Rožňava gold, silver, copper and iron orefields in Eastern Slovakia, which have been mined since the Medieval ages by of Slovak and German miners. In Gelnica, where mining operations date back to the XIIth century, massive quartz-sideritechalcopyrite veins with Fe-dolomite, pyrite and tetrahedrite (with silver) cut Lower Devonian phyllites and porphyroids. In Smolník, where copper mining has commenced in the first half of the XIIIth century followed by gold, then silver and iron ore exploitation, 10-11 pyrite-chalcopyrite ore horizons are hosted in Silurian phyllites. In Rožňava mining operations for iron, silver, gold and copper ores have been known since the XIIIth century and have lasted until 1992. Over 40 ore veins discovered in this field contain mostly siderite although quartz-siderite-sulphide paragenesis with Ag-bearing tetrahedrite was also observed. In all three mining districts there are numerous objects of mining heritage and other valuable historical monuments, reflecting the wealth of old Slovak mining towns

Storage of liquid hydrogen in natural zeolite

When producing and utilizing hydrogen, its storage is one of the biggest problems. Hydrogen, as a gas, is extremely fluid with very low specific weight. Moreover, at a certain rate, the hydrogen-oxygen mixture is explosive. Therefore, the storage of hydrogen is relatively dangerous. A storage of liquid hydrogen in the natural zeolite, which is placed in large capacity battery, appears to be a suitable hydrogen storage method. Proposed and constructed pressure tank, large capacity battery, allows long-term and safe storage of liquid hydrogen, with the possibility to change its state from liquid to gaseous or contrarily in real time. Natural zeolite is an inert material with large internal surface area and high thermal capacity. In the future, presented large capacity battery VAZEP can be a part of the system for production and storage of electric energy generated by photovoltaic modules from the sun

Old Mine Map Georeferencing: Case of Marsigli’s 1696 Map of the Smolník Mines

Historical maps represent a unique and irreplaceable source of information about the history of a country, be it large (historical) regions, individual geomorphological units or specifically defined sites. Using a methodologically correct, critical historical analysis, old maps provide both the horizontal and vertical analysis of a landscape and its transformation in different time periods. These maps represent some of the oldest, but relatively easily accessible, historical pictorial documents (plausibly) depicting historical landscapes. This study provides the methodology for processing and georeferencing old mine maps with the possibility of their further use for the purposes of mining tourism. The 1696 Marsigli mine map has been chosen for the case study in question. It depicts a cross-section of the copper mines in Smolník and shows in detail the process of cementation water mining. Through an analysis and a detailed study, two-dimensional parts of a georeferenced historical map have been plotted in Google Earth’s three-dimensional space

The identification of geosites as elements of geotourism offer in Kysuce region, Slovakia

The paper analyses the origin and evolution of the Kysuce landscape from the Mesozoic era until the arrival of humans, identifying the relics of these historical evolutionary stages in the present-day landscape. It presents the most important relics from individual evolutionary time horizons as significant elements of geotourism offer. They are systematised and analysed chronologically, thus allowing geotourists to gain a broader picture of the surveyed region, and bringing them into the focus of geotourists as tangible proof that even a landscape that was formed millions of years ago can continue to stimulate our interest. The paper provides information on authenticity and the opportunity for a potential visitor to “touch” the landscapes’ millions-of-years-old relics in the area of the Kysuce region, Slovakia

Maximizing the potential of mining tourism through knowledge infrastructures

The proposed paper deals with different approaches to the issue of shortage of relevant customer behavior data and key performance indicators for evaluating and planning for mining tourism. Mining tourism's offer is concentrated in tourist destinations emerging from tourist sub-regions or other areas of interest that by unwritten rules may or may not copy administrative boundaries of NUTS 5 areas. Management of mining tourism's offer is a part of destination management organizations' processes, which within their planning are dependent on huge amounts of data as key components of their knowledge infrastructure. In Slovakia, the issue of knowledge infrastructures in tourism is approached by the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) with redeemable value to the national economy and published only as an informative report. On the other hand, regarding tourism destination management on the principles of knowledge-based economy, publicly available statistics at levels of NUTS 4-5 do not have an exact information value regards to the performance of mining tourism's offer. These facts cause lack of effective support of mining tourism in Slovakia and create significant barriers in information cooperation of tourism stakeholders. Data management and analysis may be challenging to tourism stakeholders. Information technologies offer advanced features as detection of qualitative patterns and hidden dependencies as well as the possibility of continuous study of destination's KPI evolution. Different examples around the world show that information collected in ICT knowledge infrastructures can be used as intelligent decision support tools. The tools can connect tourism and mining tourism stakeholders into a system based on knowledge and provide them with solutions to complex problems without having deep technical expertise. The results show that the issued problematic of data shortage in destination management could be solved through implementation of destination business information systems based on continuous information cooperation of relevant state authorities and stakeholders. The group of authors are members of a research team currently working on a project with the aim of developing an interactive business intelligence system for the support of complex decision making and planning in tourism market conditions of the Kosice county