Old Mines on Mount Tonglushan

(Local Name: Tonglushan Gukuang) Mount Tonglushan lies some 75km/47mi southeast of Wuhan. Excavations in this region have revealed several hundred underground tunnels, together with tools for mining copper-ore and nine smelting furnaces, some of which date from the Spring and Autumn period (770-221 BC). The mining area covers about 8sq.km/3sq.mi, most of which is covered by a layer of slag weighing 40 tonnes, the waste product of copper-smelting.