Copper shale mining in Germany: Kupferschiefer
Copper shale mining in Germany dates back to the year 1199. According to legend, the miners Napian and Neuke found a new deposit on "Copper Mountain" near Hettstedt, east of the Harz Mountains and they started to mine it. 80 million years ago tertiary tectonic movements led to the formation of the Harz Mountains moving the copper shale layers to the surface, creating places bountiful in copper