Our origins trace back to Berlin, where in 1770 a mining institute was founded, which later evolved into the Royal Prussian Mining Academy. This academy offered a joint study program in mining and metallurgy. In early 1861, 31 students, then known as mining candidates, came together to form the Mountain and Metallurgical Association. During the same year, an additional 22 members joined.
They embraced the medieval goals of miners and metallurgists, including:
Additionally, they valued:
Even the founders of our association maintained their connection to it after their studies, supporting the younger generation of miners and metallurgists, the „Actives,“ as „Old Gentlemen“ and „High Ladies.“ This practice gradually gave the association the character of a student organization, where a generational contract established a lifelong fraternity, with the Old Gentlemen and High Ladies assisting the Actives.
In 1927, the Old Gentlemen formed an alumni association. After World War II, active chapters of our association were established in Aachen and Clausthal. On June 1, 2013, the Berg- und Hüttenleute Freiberg e.V. joined as the fourth active chapter of the BuH Association. Today, we have around 90 student members and 400 Old Gentlemen both in Germany and abroad across our four university locations: Aachen, Berlin, Clausthal, and Freiberg.