An activity of remote origins, mining involves different phases for the selective extraction of minerals from the earth crust. There are two types of mines, open-pit mines, in which minerals are extracted from the surface of the ground, and underground mines, in which extraction takes place in the earth’s interior. The central stages of mining are extraction, loading and transport. Each of these phases has developed and is currently developed according to different methods and use of machinery and tools depending on the conditions of each mine, as well as the minerals extracted.

In Tharsis, one of the towns with the longest mining tradition in Spain (several archaeological remains have been found which document that the mines of the Sierra de Tarse have existed since prehistoric times), the exploitation of the mining deposits in modern times has been based on a combination of open-cast and underground mines. The main minerals that have been extracted are copper, pyrite and gold. Since the 1980s, the entire mining sector in the region has been in crisis, and in Tharsis mining activity came to a complete halt in 2001, due to the fall in the price of copper and the transformations in the open-cast mines, which caused profound environmental damage.

The Tharsis-La Zarza mining basin, colloquially known as the Tharsis mines, is located in the centre of the province of Huelva. Its main centres are in the municipalities of Alosno, Almonaster la Real, Calañas, El Cerro de Andévalo, La Zarza-Perrunal, San Bartolomé de la Torre, Villanueva de los Castillejos and Villanueva de las Cruces, in the historical region of Andévalo. The basin is part of the so-called Iberian Pyritic Belt.

Historically, this area has been exploited for mining purposes, and an important mining-industrial complex was built up. There is material and archaeological evidence of mining activities throughout various periods of antiquity. However, the zenith of exploitation was reached in the course of the 19th and 20th centuries under the management of the British Tharsis Sulphur and Copper Company Limited, which introduced modern methods of extraction and began open-cast mining. During this period, important industrial facilities, railway lines, mining towns, warehouses, etc. were also built.

As a result of the activities that have taken place during the contemporary period, there is an extensive heritage of historical and industrial character, especially that which is linked to the British period. In 2014 the Tharsis-La Zarza mining basin was declared an Element of Cultural Interest with the category of Heritage Area.

Expansion of the activity

From the first decades of the 19th century onwards, several mining sites in the area were again exploited by various foreign companies.

For more than a century they have marked the local history, economy and culture. According to the website of the Friends of Tharsis Association, there were around one hundred mining sites in the district, located in the central and southern parts.

Throughout the second half of the 19th century and for much of the 20th, mining activity was one of the economic engines of the area: new villages were born, houses were built for the miners’ families, schools and churches were opened, foreign companies financed the construction of casinos and even a theatre in Tharsis, while at the same time production was increasing as a result of new techniques being applied.

In these years, the mining towns reached their demographic peaks. In Tharsis there were more than two thousand miners and their families, the Tharsis La Zarza railway line was built and the port of La Laja on the Guadiana river was built to transport the minerals. The productive activity also brought with it libraries, savings banks, consumer cooperatives among the miners and health services to treat illnesses contracted at work or as a result of contamination from the processing of minerals.

Several mines ceased their activity during the 1980s and 1990s, two decades of profound crisis in this sector throughout the province, while the Tharsis mines lasted until 2001, when mining activity was definitively abandoned.

Period / Occurrence:

Currently, there are no open mines in Tharsis, nor in other municipalities in the region. When the mines were in full operation, mining activity was continuous, all year round. They operated all day long, from six in the morning until evening.

Antiguo tren Tharsis La Zarza Huelva. Erica Bredy. © Instituto Andaluz del Patrimonio Histórico

IAPH image under the conditions established under license cc-by 3.0 de Creative Common. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/

Filón norte Mina a cielo abierto 2. Erica Bredy. © Instituto Andaluz del Patrimonio Histórico

IAPH image under the conditions established under license cc-by 3.0 de Creative Common. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/

Instalaciones Filón Norte. Erica Bredy. © Instituto Andaluz del Patrimonio Histórico

IAPH image under the conditions established under license cc-by 3.0 de Creative Common. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/

Filón Norte en Tharsis. Erica Bredy. © Instituto Andaluz del Patrimonio Histórico

IAPH image under the conditions established under license cc-by 3.0 de Creative Common. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/

José Antonio Portero. (2022). Tharsis milenaria (estampas mineras) – Huelva. [Video File].

Reference:
Instituto Andaluz del Patrimonio Histórico. Erica BREDY , Atlas del Patrimonio Inmaterial de Andalucía. Fase 2. Zona 7. Minería, 2010.