Field trip, 2nd day
Brad-Sacaramb
21th october 2003.

After having breakfast we traveled to Brad to visit the famous goldmuseum. In the first part of the exhibition the tools of the early ore-mining can be seen. In the next rooms are the minerals of the gold-square exhibited, mainly gold, silver and their associate minerals. We where glad to see, that some minerals with hungarian connection (krennerit, nagyágit) can also be found in the collection. Here we saw also that grown-up gold-crystal which gained the first place for Roumania on the mineral exhibition and competition in France. An other spectacle is the only rhombic dodecahedron gold crystal in the world. In the last rooms of the exhibition we could see a thematic mineral collection from all over the world.

In the research centre of the Deva Gold Ltd. Certeju de Sus, (Felsocsertés) The chiefgeologist of the company gives a lecture about the geology of the region.

After seeing the museum we travelled to Certeju. The research-leading chief geologist made us acquianted with the geology and the main ore-mineralization types of the region. After the theoretical lecture we could have a look at the rocks also on field with the explanation of the field geologist. The huge drilling equipments where also shown us.

The Certeju research territory. Up to now it is worked by the roumanian state, but if the researches go well, Deva Gold will buy it soon.

Sitting again in the car, we drove to the historical centre of Sacaramb. Here the mediaeval mine dumps and adits still can be seen, and even an old mineworker has invited us to his home where he presented us some ore minerals of the old mines. In the centre of the village stays an obelisk in memory of the mediaeval mining. On the mine dumps on the edge of the village we collected some beautiful minerals and had a look at the old mining cemetary. The field trip was finished by a group photo, and we travelled back to Deva.

The upper end of the Sacaramb valley. In the background is the Certeju- basin. On the other side of the basin flows the Maros river. Behind the river the peaks of the Ruszka-mountains can be seen. We look against S-SE..


Sacaramb village is situated in a small valley surrounded by andesite and dacite domes. This little valley is the centre of a caldera, in which the Ag-Au telluride dykes of Sacaramb can be found.


The entrance of the Bernát adit is in the village at 724 m.


The obelisk of the 18th century with german inscription in memory of the mediaeval mining.


The Sacaramb mine was extracted in 11 levels between 150-787 meters height above sea level. The total length of the adits is 100 km.

The old catholical church in Sacaramb.


The abandoned 100-130 years old mining cemetary in the forest.




Polished carbonate veinlet with collomorphic texture. The greenish yellow grains are pyrite, the black ones are alabandine (MnS).


Unique orthorhombic and aggregated rhodochrosite crystals.


Typical saddle-shaped dolomite crystals.


Tetrahedral interpenetration twins of freibergite.





Nagyágite, Pb5Au(Te, Sb)4S5-8 , the most common telluride in Nagyág. The sheeted (010) sylvanite (AuAgTe4) crystals can also be seen. Width of the picture is 5 mm.
This mineral can be found in the mineral collection of the Department of Mineralogy in the Eötvös Lóránd University.