The Sardinian GeoMining Park  (Parco Geominerario) comprises eight areas,
totalling over 3771 sq. km., with extensive visible mining heritage linked
to the tourist infrastructure. Interpretation levels vary from area to area
and are dominated by mining, largely non-ferrous metal mining, from 1850
through to the last decade of the 20th century. Earlier mining, Roman
through to the late medieval, is frequently referred to but the field
evidence is not readily accessible. In the largest park area,
Guspinese-Iglesiente-Sulcis in the south-west of the island, large mine
sites at Monteponi and Montvecchio have been made accessible underground,
with plans to restore extensive surviving structures at surface, along with
some of the spectacular coastal shipping points; all under the control of
IGEA SpA, a mining company turned industrial tourism venture.  In other
areas, as at Argentaria on the north-west coast north of Alghero, sites are
much as they were when abandoned in the 1960s - plant has been removed but
the structures and earthworks have not been destroyed and are currently open
for all to explore.

Reclaimation to minimise acid drainage water and the leaching of heavy
metals has been carried out on a small number of sites but is balanced by a
determination to retain some dumps, for example the red muds at Monteponi,
as features in the landscape.

Some useful maps of the park areas have been published including a 1:300,000
map of the whole island identifying all the known modern, i.e. post 1850,
mines - Guida al Parco Nazionale Geominerario Storico e Ambientale della
Sardegna - a copy of which will be available in the library of the Northern
Mine Research Society for those UK members considering visiting Sardinia.
More detailed maps, at 1:50,000, are published, or planned, for the heavily
mined areas in the south of the island, and available from bookshops and
tourist outlets in the large towns.  The maps include interpretive text,
some in English, but I have not yet come across any detailed histories for
the mines. However, the mapping is well in advance of anything available in
the UK or Ireland.

Sardinia is certainly worth a visit for its mining heritage.

Peter

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Peter Claughton, Blaenpant Morfil, Rosebush, Clynderwen,
Pembrokeshire, Wales  SA66 7RE.
Tel. 01437 532578; Fax. 01437 532921; Mobile 07831 427599

University of Exeter - School of Historical, Political and Sociological Studies
(Centre for South Western Historical Studies)
E-mail:  [log in to unmask]

Co-owner - mining-history e-mail discussion list.
See http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/files/mining-history/  for details.

Mining History Pages - http://www.exeter.ac.uk/~pfclaugh/mhinf/

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