Sao Domingos Mine
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Template: Infobox city in Portugal / maintenance / management location is empty Template: Infobox city in Portugal / Maintenance / Web page is blank Mina de São Domingos is a historic mining town, in the town of Corte do Pinto County Mértola in Alentejo / Portugal.
The mine is located in the center of a geological pyrite layer that covers the entire south of the Iberian Peninsula permeates ( Pyrite Belt of südiberischen Peninsula). There are also the now closed mines Mina de Canal Caveira, Mina de Lousal, Aljustrel and still producing Neves Corvo mine Mina de At the same pyrite layer. In Spain, the famous Minas de Riotinto built on the Pyrite Belt.
The total flow rate is estimated at 25 million tons pyrithhaltiges rock in São Domingos. This rock was about 45 % sulfur content; of the copper and zinc content was 1.25 or 3%.
History
The history of the Mina de São Domingos dates back to the Phoenicians, who won in addition to copper from the ore of gold and silver. The second mining period dates back to the Roman Empire back in time 12-397 AD. During this time, the mine was developed to a depth of 40 meters. The total output of this period is estimated at around 750,000 tonnes of copper ore.
In 1858, the industrial exploitation of the deposit began by the company and Barry Manson, the Sabina Mining Company founded that operated the mine until its closure in 1966. Thus, the copper mining ended in this area. It was this to be mining up to 120 m depth and civil engineering, which reached a depth of up to 400 m. With the closure of the mine began the decline of the once prosperous mining town of São Domingos a, large parts of the population were unemployed and lost by the closure of their existence, as well as in other aforementioned southern Portuguese mining locations whose mines closed at this time.
Railway Mina de São Domingos Pomarão
To transport the ore a railway line was built, which was operated exclusively for freight traffic by the mining company. The route had a total length of about 15 km. The river port of Pomarão, the terminus of the railway line along the Guadiana River, was a loading station. The line was also set in 1966.
Environmental damage
The Sabina Mining Company had left the mine in 1966, without providing for appropriate remediation of environmental damage have already occurred. The situation has since assumed worrying proportions with regard to groundwater pollution. The accumulated stockpiles of the mine is estimated at more than 100,000 tons. Besides a high sulphidation They also contain remnants of walls and other mining waste. Efflorescence of secondary sulfates such as jarosite melanterite and are now openly visible in many places and pollute the groundwater. The opencast mining holes are filled with water, which also have high metal content - particularly iron and copper - containing, where the pH of the water is 2.4 in the strongly acidic range. In case of heavy rains, the dissolved sulfates penetrate into the nearby river Chança and from there into the Guadiana. This also has a corresponding impact on the landscape and vegetation as well as on water supply in the area.