Bauxite exploration was started in present-day Hungary in 1920. It was preceded by some bauxite exploration in the Bihar Mountains (Transylvania), initiated by Gy. SzAd e c z k y- Ka r d o s s, K. Pa p p, P. Ro z l o z s n i k and B. MIKÓ in 1903. Bauxite mining was begun in the area in 1915, by the Jad Valley Aluminium Company.
Hungarian bauxite exploration can be devided into three periods.
First period: 1920—1925.
Bauxite was discovered at several places in Transdanubia. Exploration rights were secured by mining claims (leases), e.g. at Halimba, Halimba—Malomárok, Gánt, Isztimér, Bakony szén tlászló, Eplény, Nagynémetegyháza. The prospectors (J. Ba l á s, I. Ve l t y, A. A. Gy ö r g y) recognize outcrops of bauxite relying upon the results of basic geological mapping, such as the work of É . TAEGER. Prospecting is rather unsystematic and involves only deposits recognizable on the surface. In the surroundings of Gánt the Aluminium Ore Mines and Industry Company, founded in 1917 and becoming an affiliate of the Bauxite Trust A.G. in 1923, is striving to secure exclusive prospecting and mining rights for the area. The same is done by the Tapolca Mining Company in the area of Halimba, iniciated by A. GYÖRGY. At this time Gánt and Halimba were the most prominent occurrences, having estimated reserves of some 30 million tons (K. Te l e g d i- Ro t h), and 130 million tons (A. GYÖRGY), respectively. The estimation for Halimba turned out to be too high. J. Ba l á s estimated the country-wide reserves to be about 2.5 thousand million tons. This estimation, however, was declared by K. TELEGDI- Ro t h as exaggerated.
E. Va d á s z, geologist, J. Ba l á s, mining engineer and I. Ja k o b i, metallurgical- engineer were the first to suggest to start big scale mining and processing of bauxite in Hungary to exploit the deposits, thought to be considerable even as com
pared to world reserves. All of them stressed the importance of further explora
tion, with special respect to the very varying quality, influencing industrial processing decisively.
Fig. 1. Bauxite districts in the Transdanubian Central Range.1. Bauxite deposit known before 1945, 2. Bauxite mine operating before 1945
Second period: 1926—1935.
The aluminium Ore Company, having secured all bauxite claims at Gánt, began the detailed surveying of reserves. Mining was started in 1926. The success of bauxite exploration and production at Gánt gave an impetus to further explora
tion. Work was continued at Halimba—Szőc, in the Northern Bakony Mountains (Fenyőfő, Dudar), in the Pilis Mountains and at Nagynémetegyháza—Óbarok. 1927—29. Later on, production decreased. It surpassed again the previous level only after the world-economic crisis.
Third period: 1936—1945.
The laggish development following the economic depression began to accelerate from 1936 on also in bauxite production, motivated mainly by military upswing.
The known deposits were reviewed. Detailed exploration, applying exploratory drilling, was continued, followed by a steep increase of production.With the open
ing of an open cast mine at Bagolyhegy, production at Gánt reached 500 thousand tons per year.
In the vicinity of Iszkaszentgyörgy bauxite was found by M. POVOLNIK in 1941.
The area was quickly developed by the Aluminium Ore Company, advised by T. KORMOS. The Aluminium Ore Co. started intensive exploration in 1943 also in the already known Halimba Basin.
The formation of the Hungarian Bauxite Mines Co. resulted in a very intensive exploration activity. The detailed surveying of the bauxite deposits at Alsópere began, and at Nyirád area, by the Aluminum Ore Co., was reambulated disclosing some 22—25 million tons of reserves, as estimated. Production was started at Nyirád and Nagyharsány in 1938, and at Alsópere in 1940. The contributions of
K. Te l e g d i- Ro t h, E . Va d á s z, E . Ajt a i and Z. Sc h r é t e r to the above explora sideritic bauxite beneath the coal seams and partly below fractured dolomite debris. (These reserves were developed most recently).
Summarizing the characteristics and results of bauxite exploration between 1920 and 1945, the following can be stated.
— Till the end of World War II all bauxite outcrops in the country were dis
covered. The exploration, continued from the outcrops downwards into the depth, was also successful at many places, e.g. at Szőc, Halimba, Alsópere, Eplény, Vázsonypuszta, Obarok, Nagyharsány. In consequence, all bauxite areas were delineated already at that time, representing the ’’backbone” of present-day bauxite mining: Nyirád, Halimba—Szőc, Kincsesbánya, Gánt.
— Exploration was based partly on previous geological field surveying, partly on the work of a team of experts.
— The thorough investigation of the bauxite deposits, the detailed laboratory examinations of thousands of samples yielded excellent scientific results, which were published only after 1945. They provided an outstanding interpretation of the results obtained, and gave decisive incentives to still more intensive bauxite exploration started in the fifties. The two most important publications were writ
ten by E. VADÁSZ: ’’Geological setting of Hungarian bauxite occurrences”, and
’’Bauxite-Geology”. Geological surveying was determined by the fast growing mining requirements, and by the position of bauxite deposits, rendered the surveying more effective, but caused at the same time somewhat less systematic work. The extension of bauxite deposits, suitable for open pit mining, were explored by small shafts, hand made borings, in some cases by small scale mining methods, to satisfy immediate requirements. Exploration by deeper drillings over covered areas began only during the war to satisfy quickly the demands, that had been multiplied.
— Increasing knowledge about bauxite stratigraphy contributed to a great ex
tent to the theories on bauxite genesis. An other approach based on detailed laboratory work started to develop already in the thirties. However a big scale investigation, applying the most modern methods and involving a great number of samples, was started only in the sixties, rendering more reliable data to the solution of the problem of bauxite genesis.
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BÉLA VIZY
Hungarian Aluminium Co.
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