The advantage of a 4 hours ride to visit an abandoned sawmill is that we increase our chances of finding an intact place without the slightest trace of vandalism. Or at least, very little.
All along the road, the fear of finding a...
Located in São Domingos (province of Alentejo) south of Lisbon, capital of Portugal, the mine of Achada do Gamo is an abandoned open pit mine. Located in the heart of the Iberian Pyrite Belt, which extends from southern Portugal to Spain, the region of the mine consists of the outcropping volcanic and sedimentary rocks that vary in age from 542 to 251 million years.
The history of mining in the area dates back over 4300 years when Phoenicians and Carthaginians already harvested copper during the Chalcolithic period (Copper Age).
It will nevertheless expect the ancient Romans who intensified the production of copper on a large scale. For nearly 400 years, they exploit a mine of copper and pyrite. At this time, the mines could reach a depth of over 40 meters.
The industrial revolution modernize extraction techniques and a British company called Barry Mason took control of the São Domingos mine. They create the Achada do Gamo mine around 1858 and it will continue its operation until 1966, when it closed due to ore depletion. With its intensive operations, and hundred years later at its closure, the open pit mine was a depth of 120 meters and a perimeter of approximately 2 km. It is calculated that all the periods of mining resulted in the production of 25 Mt, and mine waste material in the area is estimated at several hundred thousand tons. In this context, important environmental problems are associated, which are visible within an area around 50 km2.
The advantage of a 4 hours ride to visit an abandoned sawmill is that we increase our chances of finding an intact place without the slightest trace of vandalism. Or at least, very little.
All along the road, the fear of finding a...
Although this building was built around 1861, the history of the Dow brewery began nearly 60 years earlier, in 1790, when a farmer named Thomas Dunn started in the beer industry in La Prairie, who was an important stopover for travelers who went...
Located a few kilometers from the municipality of Calzadilla de los Barros and its 850 inhabitants, the abandoned aerodrome dates from before the Spanish Civil War which took place from 1936 to 1939 with the victory of General Franco.
It...
It was October 3, 2014 when it has been heard for the last time the siren for the end of the work shift. The last 180 employees picked up their belongings and closed the door behind them, thus ending an industrial history of over 125 years.
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