© Slovak Post, 2006 The mining of copper ore and the use of copper in the territory of Slovakia dates as far back as the Eneolithic period. It was used for the production of various decorations, warriors’ sledgehammers, daggers, etc. Later in the Copper Age, copper was the main component for the production of bronze – copper-tin alloy. The underground mining of copper and its processing experienced the greatest boom in our territory in the Middle Ages, when the Banská Bystrica region became the centre of copper mining – mainly the surrounding mining settlements of Staré Hory, Špania Dolina, Piesky, and...