Abstract
Conservation, rehabilitation and post-valuation of the facilities of old mining districts is considered a valid strategy to revitalize these areas. In this study, the northeastern sector of the Linares-La Carolina mining district was analyzed, integrating geological information with mining to assess its value. The characteristics of the three most emblematic veins (consisting of galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, pyrite, quartz, ankerite and calcite) were analyzed, namely El Guindo, Federico and El Sinapismo. In this study, each mining exploitation was evaluated according to their geological context. Currently, old mining operations can only be visited from drainage galleries or from some exploration galleries. However, some of the old mining shafts could be adapted for visitation. On the surface, the remains of the most important extraction shafts and part of the associated facilities are still visible. One can also visit old tailings dumps with a high contents of heavy metals associated with ore concentration plants. The contaminating potential of these wastes is being monitored thanks to control piezometers and sensors installed at different depths within the tailings ponds, which assist in controlling evolution in the latter years. Different localities of special interest from geological, mining and mineralogical points of view are indicated. Therefore, the guided tour described in this work is attractive for tourism and educational purposes.
Highlights
In the second half of the 20th century, many of the large mining basins of Spain and the rest of Europe ceased to be profitable and underwent a process of decline and closure.In parallel, these regions endured an intense industrial and economic crisis that led to strong migratory movements
This case study aims to enhance the value of the old Linares-La Carolina mining district
From a geological point of view, there is a thick series of Paleozoic phyllites and quartzites intensely deformed by the Hercynian orogeny and intruded by a granitic batholith
Summary
In the second half of the 20th century, many of the large mining basins of Spain and the rest of Europe ceased to be profitable and underwent a process of decline and closure. In parallel, these regions endured an intense industrial and economic crisis that led to strong migratory movements. The need to respect and preserve this legacy, which was suffering rapid and alarming deterioration, gradually began to be perceived This geological, mining and industrial legacy is beginning to be considered a source of wealth since it would allow tourism initiatives to revitalize these territories [1,2,3,4]. Geoconservation and geotourism studies around the world have had positive results in places of geological and mining interest [8,9,10]
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