Editing Harz (section)

== Economy ==
[[File:Clausthal-zellerfeld oberbergamt bergbauarchiv.jpg|thumb|Mining archive in [[Clausthal-Zellerfeld]]]]

=== Historic mining industry ===
The [[mining industry]] in the Harz has its origins about 3,000 years ago during the [[Bronze Age]]. The seven Upper Harz mining towns – [[Clausthal]], [[Zellerfeld]], [[Bad Grund (Harz)|Bad Grund]], [[Sankt Andreasberg]], [[Lautenthal]], [[Altenau]] and [[Wildemann]] – and around 30 other villages within and on the edge of the Harz can thank the [[Mining in the Upper Harz|Upper Harz mining]] and [[smelting|smelting industries]] for their boom. The former imperial town of [[Goslar]], too, whose splendour depended on the ore treasures of the [[Rammelsberg]], mined [[argentiferous]] lead ore for centuries. Mining heavily dominated the economic life of the Harz as well as its scenery. Miners created the famous engineering system for the management of water in the Upper Harz, the [[Upper Harz Water Regale]], of which 70 kilometres of [[Upper Harz Ditches|ditch]] and 68 [[Upper Harz Ponds|'ponds']] (with a volume of 8 million cubic metres) are still used today. Without using their considerable [[hydropower]] output, silver mining in the Harz would never have been able to attain its major economic significance.

In the eastern Harz Foreland ([[Mansfeld Land]] and Sangerhäuser Mulde) [[copper]] schist was mined until 1990. The early beginnings of this industry were first mentioned in 1199, and it was considered in its heyday, at the end of the 15th century, as the most important in Europe. In addition, at [[Ilfeld]] is the only [[stone coal]] mine in the Harz, the former Rabenstein Gallery Mine (''Bergwerk Rabensteiner Stollen''). In the North Thuringian mining area, there were numerous [[potash]] mines and, in the vicinity of Röblingen, geological waxes were extracted by a mining concern.

The last mine in the Upper Harz – the Wolkenhügel Pit in Bad Lauterberg – closed its operations in June 2007 for economic reasons. Having formerly had 1,000 workers, the mine employed just 14 people towards the end, using the most modern technology to extract [[barite]]. With the closure of this facility, mining operations that had begun in the [[Middle Ages]] and had continued unbroken since the 16th century, extracting [[silver]], [[lead]] and [[zinc]], came to an end. Bearing witness to the industry are cultural monuments as well as the negative consequences of mining for the environment such as e.&nbsp;g. pollution of the [[ecosystem]] with [[heavy metals]].<ref>Friedhart Knolle: ''Bergbauinduzierte Schwermetallkontaminationen und Bodenplanung in der Harzregion'' [http://www.geoberg.de/text/mining/09022401.php online]</ref>

=== Economy today ===
The booming mining industry of bygone centuries in the Harz region – especially for [[silver]], [[iron]], [[copper]], [[lead]] and [[zinc]] – has declined markedly. However, the heavy metal residues in the soils of the Upper Harz, which in some cases are significant, represent a serious environmental hazard today.

Copper workings are still important today in the area of [[Mansfeld]]. The last centres of mining were the Rammelsberg near Goslar (closed 1988) and the Hilfe Gottes Pit near [[Bad Grund]] (closed 1992). In Bad Lauterberg, [[barite]] – used today primarily for the manufacture of paint and in sound insulation – was extracted until July 2007 at the Wolkenhügel Pit, the last mine in the entire Harz. Furthermore, limestone is still mined at [[Elbingerode (Harz)|Elbingerode]] in three large open pits (''Werk [[Rübeland]]'', ''Werk Kaltes Tal'' and ''Werk Hornberg''). Another important employer is the [[Clausthal University of Technology]]. In addition to the classical disciplines of mining and metallurgy, many engineering and science subjects, as well as [[business studies]] courses, are taught and researched.

The extensive woods of the Harz mean that [[forestry]] plays an important economic role, as do the associated wood-working industries. In the first millennium AD, [[hardwood]] trees (mainly [[common beech]]) were predominant on the higher ground – typical of a natural highland forest. Hence one spoke of going ''in die Harten'' ("into the hardwood forest"), a term which gave the ''Harz'' its name. Today, however, the commercially managed areas are mainly [[monoculture]]s of [[Norway spruce]]. A cause of this development was the mining history in the Harz region, with its high demand for wood and the consequent overuse and devastation of the stands of forest. In addition, there were the [[Climate change (general concept)|climatic change]]s of the so-called [[Little Ice Age]]. The [[reforestation]] with relatively easily managed and undemanding spruce trees since the middle of the 18th century was mainly due to the proposals of the Senior Forester and Master Hunter, Johann Georg von Langen.