Vagonetto

Fokis Mining Park

Useful Information

Location:	Fokida. On the road 27 Lamia-Amfissa, 51 km from Lamia. (38.632229, 22.371677)
Open:	All year daily 9-17. Online reservation required. Closed Easter Sunday, 15-AUG. [2022]
Fee:	Adults EUR 12, Children (6-18) EUR 10, Children (0-5) EUR 5, Students (-26) EUR 10, Seniors (65+) EUR 10, Unemployed EUR 10. [2022]
Classification:	Clay Mine Bauxite
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:
Guided tours:	D=90 min, Max=60. V=10,000/a [2019]. audioguide
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Vagonetto, Fokis Mining Park, 33100 Amfissa - Fokis, Tel: +30-22650-78819, Tel: +30-21092-00293, Fax: +30-21092-47168, 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

1924	beginning of prospecting in the Oiti-Ghiona-Parnassos area.
1927	bauxite discovered.
1934	Bauxites Parnasse S.A. founded.
1935	first contract with the French Lafarge for the sale of the bauxite.
1936	more contracts with British, Scandinavian, and Swiss companies.
1941	German occupation, company forced to sell the mine to the German Hansa Leichtmetall Aktien Gesellschaft.
1950
1967	mining moves to Vagonetto, Tunnel 850.
1972	mine closed because deposit is exhausted.
1998	beginning of development as a show mine.
SEP-2003	opened to the public.
2008	audio-guide digital system in six languages, co-funded by the European Union.
2009	digital exhibition inaugurated.

Geology

Description

Vagonetto is as far as we know the first and so far only Greek show mine. It was opened by S&B Industrial Minerals S.A., the operator of this bauxite mine, in 2003. It was created in the abandoned Στοά 850 (Tunnel 850), which was the first bauxite mine on this location some 50 years ago. The site is called Μεταλλευτικό Πάρκο Φωκίδας (Fokida Mining Park) or Vagonetto Fokis Mining Park. The tour starts with an exhibition and an audiovisual introduction. Visitors are equipped with a helmet and a cape for protection. Then the mine is entered on a mine train. The underground tour is inside a huge chamber where bauxite was mined.

The first exploration in the Oiti-Ghiona-Parnassos area in 1924 revealed a brown and soft rock which was dubbed "poor iron ore". The brown colour was obviously iron so it was first thought to be a iron ore with low iron content, which is true, but the iron content is not high enough to make it profitable. It took until 1927 that the high content of bauxite was discovered. And so the Bauxites Parnasse S.A. was founded by Euripides Mavromatis and the brothers Helias Eliopoulos and George Eliopoulos. Athanassios Eliopoulos joined the company five years later. In the next two years the signed contracts with various cmpanie who bought their bauxite. And by 1938 the production at the Parnassos-Ghiona mines had reached 180,000 tons per year. They even built a 15 km long cable way to the Itea harbour, where the bauxite is loaded to ships.

During World War II, Greece was occupied by Germany in 1941. Bauxites Parnasse S.A. was forced to sell its mines to the German Hansa Leichtmetall Aktien Gesellschaft. After the war the mines were transferred to the Greek State as «spoils of war». In 1950 the company claimed back its mines, but the Greek state refused to return them. After two years they finally reached a compromise agreement, the Greek State leased the mines to Bauxites Parnasse, which formerly belonged to the company. We guess the Germans were not the only ones who were stealing.