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Blasting powder, which had been discovered in Europe in 1313 by the monk Berthold Schwarz, was first used for military purposes and only relatively later in mining. After some (unconfirmed) attempts in Italy and Saxony, documents show that, in 1627, the Tyrolese miner Kaspar Weindl used black powder to blast a gallery at Schemnitz, in present-day Slovakia. The rock was drilled by hand, one man holding the drill and hitting it, or two men (one holding the drill and turning it round after every blow, another hitting it with a heavy hammer). These holes, preferably narrow, were drilled to depths of 50-100 cm and then filled with a sufficient quantity of black powder, firmly pressed in. Wooden or (later) clay plugs were used to block the holes, through which fuses were then lit.
During the 17th century, this new technique was used all over the world. Because of the very high cost of ‘black powder’ and the extremely hard work of manually drilling the holes, blasting was mainly used together with the traditional technique of chiselling, but especially only when very hard rock was worked.
At Schneeberg, there is no precise information on the use of blasting powder. However, according to the annual plaques set in the walls of the Karl gallery, marking the degree of advance, blasting was first begun around 1680.
However, this new method of working was also very dangerous. If the holes were loaded with too much powder, the delicate static equilibrium of the mine was often permanently disturbed. There was consequently many more mine collapses and a great increase in the cost of wooden supports and setting them in place. Unexploded charges were true time-bombs during the advance of the gallery. From the 18th century onwards, mortal accidents in loading and setting off fuses ran like a red thread through the chronicle of accidents at Schneeberg.
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history of mining on Schneeberg
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