Calamine brass slowly phased out as zinc smelting techniques were developed in Europe, which produced metallic zinc more suitable for brass production than calamine. However, the conversion away from calamine brass manufacture was slow; a British patent was awarded to William Champion in 1738, but the alloying of metallic zinc and copper to produce brass was not patented until 1781 (by James Emerson), and calamine brass mills persisted in South Wales until as late as 1858. The slow diffusion of this technology was probably the result of economic factors. Calamine brass Calamine brass is brass produced by a particular alloying technique using
Ore Mountains role on the Saxon side of the border. For example, in Hermsdorf/Erzgeb. in the Eastern Ore Mountains, calcite is mined, and near Lengefeld in the Central Ore Mountains, dolomite marble is extracted. For the first time in two decades, an ore mine was opened in Niederschlag near Oberwiesenthal on 28 October 2010. It is expected that 50,000-130,000 tons of fluorspar per year will be extracted there. In the Czech part of the Ore Mountains, tourism has gained a certain importance, even though the Krkonoše are more important for domestic tourism. In addition, mining still plays a greater role, particularly coal