The Rhodope Mountains are magnificently beautiful and the parent Rhodope Mountain is often called the ‘magic mountain’. The area is connected with the mythical figure Orpheus and it might be regarded as hiding in its folds some great wealth. Recently a great archaeological discovery was made Krumovgrad: the oldest goldmine in Europe. The dispute which […]
2700 people in the Rhodopes are now engaged in mining and processing of ore. Gold in the Rhodopes is currently being extracted in only one place – in the “Chala” mine near the Haskovo Mineral Baths, the ore being transported from there to the concentration installations of “Gorubso – Kardzhali” in the city center. For […]
A “Mine Renaissance” and investments of more than 1 billion Lev are coming to the Rhodopes Mountains, if relatively high metal prices are sustained on world markets. By the end of 2016 a new gold mine owned by the Canadian company, Dundee Precious Metals, is planned near Krumovgrad. According to company projections this will provide […]
15 km from Rudozem in the next valley is Madan, a mountain town with a population of about 6500-7500 people, 30 km from the town of Smolyan and 120 km south of Plovdiv. Madan is the centre of a municipality with a population of 15500 people. The average altitude is 700 m, mainly hilly terrain […]
Our latest trip to Bulgaria for new specimens was well planned in advance a few months before the date of the flight. But as we landed in Sofia, we found out about the extremely difficult conditions in the region where we supposed to be by the end of the following day. Even though winter was […]
