Bobrowniki Quarry

The Bobrowniki Quarry is what remains of an open-pit dolomite mine that operated from 1903 until the 1990s. It lies on the border of Tarnowskie Góry (Bobrowniki) and Bytom (Sucha Góra), by national road no. 11. It left a large excavation with walls up to 70 m high, popularly called the "Great Tarnowskie Góry Canyon" (Wielki Kanion Tarnogórski).

The history of the mine

The works were founded by the "Pokój" steelworks within the mining area of the "Fryderyk" mine, and it started operating in 1903. The dolomite was used, among other things, as a flux in the blast furnace charge of the steelworks. In 1913 the steelworks enlarged the mining area by buying from the state treasury the zinc and lead ore washing plant in Sucha Góra. After the war, in 1951, the mine was taken over by the Tarnowskie Góry Dolomite Works, and in 1986 the enterprise took the name Mining Dolomite Works, based in Bytom. Annual output was 85,425 tonnes in 1923, and after modernisation in 1971 it exceeded a million tonnes of metallurgical dolomite. It was the largest dolomite mine in the Bytom-Tarnowskie Góry region. The concession expired in September 2001.

What it looks like today

The disused excavation is becoming overgrown on its own, and a pond has formed on its floor. Among other plants, marsh helleborine grows here. Within the quarry there are two entrances to former underground workings, and the underground is protected by the Natura 2000 area Podziemia Tarnogórsko-Bytomskie (Tarnowskie Góry-Bytom Underground). The area is sometimes used for motor sports. The site is not secured and is not open to visitors.

Practical information

• Location: Bobrowniki in Tarnowskie Góry, right by national road no. 11.
• The quarry is not open to visitors and has no safety barriers, so view it from the outside, away from the edges of the walls.
• In the area lie the Royal Frederick Mine and the Silver Mine in Tarnowskie Góry, which are open regularly.