Calamine (mineral) Calamine (mineral) Calamine is a historic name for an ore of zinc. The name "calamine" was derived from "lapis calaminaris", a Latin corruption of Greek "cadmia (καδμία)", the old name for zinc ores in general. The name of the Belgian town of Kelmis, "La Calamine" in French, which was home to a zinc mine, comes from that. In the 18th and 19th centuries large ore mines could be found near the German village of Breinigerberg. During the early 19th century it was discovered that what had been thought to be one ore was actually two distinct minerals: Although chemically and
Ore Mountains last silver mines closed and the company was disbanded. Mining in the Ore Mountains was given new life during the First and Second World Wars in order to supply raw materials. The Third Reich also saw the resumption of silver mining. Afterwards the people returned to the manufacture of wooden products and toys, especially in the Eastern Ore Mountains. The clock industry is centred on Glashütte. In the Western Ore Mountains, economic alternatives were offered by the engineering and textile industries. In 1789 the chemical element uranium was discovered in St. Joachimsthal; then in pitchblende from the same area, radium