Westernmost Mine Entrance - Ellmau Tunnel

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In the early 1960s, during a ski tour on the Mitterriedel, the chief surveyor Hans Klausner had the idea to develop a new haulage tunnel in the west of the copper mine! The Ellmau Tunnel was then started in July 1966 at an altitude of 1,280 meters. The tunnel extended 600 meters into the mountain to reach the Ellmau Shaft, which led 400 meters deep, before connecting with the 7th level approximately 1,000 meters to the east. State-of-the-art technology was used as the future of copper mining was seen in expanding to the west, where millions of tons of copper ore still lay deep underground.

Operations began in 1972, and the so-called Blindschacht West was completed down to a depth of 423 meters above sea level - 11th level. At the 7th level of the Ellmai Shaft, approximately 650 meters below ground, and at the 11th level of the Blindschacht West (the deepest point of the mine), one found oneself around 1,200 meters below ground. There, temperatures reached around 25-30 degrees Celsius. Unfortunately the copper price on the world market did not develop as desired, leading to the definitive end of copper mining in Mühlbach am Hochkönig in November 1976.
Thus, the many kilometers of tunnels lie dormant in the depths, perhaps to be made available to humans again in some form in the future.