The First Mine Diving in Greece

[argyris]

The first Mine diving in Greece is a fact.

On Jan 23rd 2010 underwater speleologist Argyris Argyriadis (NACD & NSS-CDS) with the support of 5 dry cavers, dived successfully at the historic mines of Lavrio in Greece. The dive was on the 5th level, 80 meters below surface 400 meters distance from the entrance in the phreatic zone and penetrated into the 6th submerged level of the mine. It is the first successful dive in the mines at the lower level. Below are some pictures from the dive:

Λαύριο νεο1.JPG 6vBr0-9f163d66507fd5667ea95513fe70158b.jpg

6vDW9-9f163d66507fd5667ea95513fe70158b.jpg 6vGqi-9f163d66507fd5667ea95513fe70158b.jpg

DSC_8869A.jpg DSC_8881A.jpg

DSC_8897A.jpg DSC_8908A~0.jpg

DSC_8914A.jpg DSC_8924A.jpg

DSC_8954A.jpg DSC_8957A.jpg

[JDostal]

Wonderful to see! Mine diving is a lot of fun. It is the only cave diving we really have here in Wisconsin. Look forward to seeing more from your mine!

[Squirrel Girl]

Awesome! It looks like quite a project! What mineral was being mined? What year were the mines active?

[argyris]

Awesome! It looks like quite a project! What mineral was being mined? What year were the mines active?

Silver!!! The ancient Greeks form the golden century of Athens at 5th century BC start excavating this area. Then it was during the end of 19th century that the mines operated again from the french Mining Society. Nowadays the mine is abandoned and some sections colapsed.

[FW]

.... Nowadays the mine is abandoned and some sections colapsed.

One good reason to be very careful diving in abondoned mines!

[argyris]

One good reason to be very careful diving in abondoned mines!

Thanks for noticing FW,
Yes we are very carefull. We do not jeopardize the safety of anyone. I forgot to mention that the colapse is only at the above water sections of the mine at the uppper level where the rock is unstable. This dive was to verify if the underwater sections of the mine permited diving. Thats why I took the initiative to organize and dive there as the safety officer of NSS-CDS & NACD in the region. The promising thing is that the phreatic zone is in limestome. So the passages are quite stable but the visibility is terible on return. Our suggestion is to avoid restrictions and tight areas or small side passages of the mine.

[Xenia]

Nice! Great to see some new cave findings in Greece.