Mina Eugènia

Museu de les Mines de Bellmunt del Priorat

Useful Information

Location:	Carretera de la Mina, s/n, 43738 Bellmunt del Priorat, Tarragona (41.161314, 0.762697)
Open:	16-JAN to JUN Sat 11-13, 16-18, Sun, Hol 11-13. JUL to AUG Tue-Sat 11-13, 17-19, Sun, Hol 11-13. SEP to 23-DEC Sat 11-13, 16-18, Sun, Hol 11-13. [2021]
Fee:	Museum: Adults EUR 3, Children (8-16) EUR 2, Children (0-7) free, Seniors (65+) EUR 2, Disabled EUR 2, Students EUR 2. Groups (15+): Adults EUR 2. Museum + Mine: Adults EUR 8, Children (8-16) EUR 6, Children (0-7) free, Seniors (65+) EUR 6, Disabled EUR 6, Students EUR 5. Groups (15+): Adults EUR 6, School Pupils EUR 5, Seniors (65+) EUR 5. [2021]
Classification:	Lead Mine
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:	L=14 km, VR=620 m, T=16-18ºC.
Guided tours:	Mine: D=50 min, L=700 m, VR=35 m. Museum: self guided.
Photography:	allowed, video and tripod forbidden
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:	Joan Abella i Creus (2008): Minerals I Mines De La Conca De Bellmunt Del Priorat Encuadernación Rústica, 128 S. online Peter Wagenplast (2014): Die Blei- und Silber-Lagerstätten bei Bellmunt in Katalonien Aufschluss, Jg.65, H.5, S.292-97. A. Canals, E. Cardellach, C. Ayora (1989): The Eugenia Mine (Pb-Zn-Ag) (Bellmunt del Priorat, Tarragona): Fluid geochemistry and mechanisms of formation Bol. Soc. Esp. de Mineralogía.
Address:	Museu de les Mines de Bellmunt del Priorat, Carretera de la Mina, s/n, 43738 Bellmunt del Priorat, Cell: +34-626-384-706, Tel: +34-977-830-578, Fax: +34-977-830-028. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1870	Inocenta mine opened.
1890s	Inocenta mine renamed Eugènia mine.
1905	Casa de las Minas built for the offices and the laboratory of the mine.
1920	mining colony built.
1972	Eugènia mine closed.
2002	Bellmunt Mining Museum founded with help of mayor Joaquim Torné i Roigé.
DEC-2002	museum opened to the public.

Geology

The lead ores of the area are mostly galena or lead glance (PbS) deposits. Pb with lower amounts of Zn, Ag, Ba, Cu, Ni, Co, and Fe in dykes in carbonatic turbidite sequences. The deposits were formed during the Late Hercynian, caused by an intrusion which created granite-porphyry dikes. The mineralisation is a breccia cemented by carbonates and sulphides.

Description

The Museu de les Mines de Bellmunt del Priorat (Museum of the Mines of Bellmunt del Priorat) is dedicated to the local lead mining. The museum is part of the Museu de la Ciència i de la Tècnica de Catalunya (Science and Technics Museum of Catalonia). It is located at the Mina Eugènia (Eugènia Mine) once had 20 levels, but it was closed in 1972. The museum includes an underground tour in the 35 m deep oldest and uppermost level of the abandoned mine. This tunnel was dug during the last third of the 19th century. The walls and ceiling show the typical traces of the mining technique used at this time.

The museum is located in the former mine buildings of the Eugenia Mine, the shaft tower and two attached buildings. The system included the extraction shaft, crushers and machinery to wash the ore. To take advantage of the low quality ore, there were two casting systems. The exhibitions also includes the furnace and its filters, the mechanical workshop, the forge, the compressor room, the power station and the machine room. Its collection contains mostly different objects like mainly tools, machinery, plans, photographs and other documents, related to the local mining. But also typical remains of everyday life and social life around mining. The symbol of the mine is the characteristic headframe of the Alemanya Mine.

Bellmunt del Priorat was the centre of an important mining area, which also extended to the neighbouring municipalities of Falset and El Molar. Mining activities have left numerous traces in the landscape. The industrial-scale mining operations of the 19th and 20th centuries changed the landscape substantially. However, mining actually started already in the Late Bronze Age. The most important mines are the Eugènia Mine, the Règia Mine and the Règia Antiga Mine. The company Minas del Priorato, S. A., built a mining colony in the center of Bellmunt del Priorat and the Casa de la Mina annexed to the Eugènia mine complex. The mining colony was intended to provide accommodation for workers who arrived with their families from other mining areas of Spain, mainly Andalusia.