ABSTRACT: Hydrogeological investigations in the Starohorské vrchy Mts. (Central Slovakia) were performed during the 1995 – 1999 period. Based on the results of these investigations, hydrogeological settings of the area are described, as well as the hydraulic properties of the individual lithostratigraphical units and basic rules of groundwater chemistry formation. Based on specific groundwater runoff, natural groundwater resources and available groundwater amounts were calculated in the C2 category, according to the Amendment 217/1993, valid in the time of investigations. Natural groundwater resources were calculated as 1209 l.s-1 outflowing from the area of about 178 km2. Available groundwater amounts – 288.4 l.s-1 – were calculated as a sum of newly drilled wells’ discharges (58.6 l.s-1), sum of archived wells’ recommended discharges (not yet used; 52.1 l.s-1), sum of already exploited amounts from both wells and springs (16.1 l.s-1), discharges secured for 300-days/year from monitored springs of SHMÚ, including already exploited springs Ľadová studňa and Podkalište (125.0 l.s-1) plus the discharges secured for 300-days/year from monitored springs of ŠGÚDŠ (37.1 l.s-1). These groundwater amounts available for usage represent approximately 23.8 % of the natural groundwater resources in the area.