It is known that the Romans exploited gold from the river and its surrounding. The extraction stopped during the Ottoman period, but was restored in the late 19th century. Austro-Hungarian naturalist and traveller Felix Kanitz who visited the Pek area in 1858, wrote that the old name of the town of Kučevo was "Chrisovehia" (meaning "Old GoldLand", in Serbian "Starozlatija"). During the Interbellum, an excavator owned by the royal Karađorđević dynasty was dredging the river at Neresnica in search of gold. It was filtering of gold per week. In total, it excavated some 7 tons of 22-carat gold before the outbreak of World War II.