Giant Chimney of the Hitachi mine
Hitachi mine, located at the southernmost edge of the famed Abukuma metamorphic terrain, was a large copper producer from the Besshi-type chalcopyrite-pyrite deposits.
Sulfurous acid gases exhausted during the smelting caused air-pollution to the local inhabitants, and the famed giant chimney (156 m high) was constructed in1914 on a mountainous hill with 300 m elevation above sea level. It is now broken into 1/3 of the height by storm. Electric section of the mine became the gigantic Hitachi Co. with many other Hitachi-group subsidiaries.
(Shunso Ishihara)
Bulletin of the Geological Survey of Japan Top Page
Geological Survey of Japan HP
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology HP