Asset revitalization
Introduction
The Mines of the village of Borralha are old tungsten mines located in the parish of Salto, within the Municipality of Montalegre (Portugal). Opened around 1900 and being the main economic focus and employer of the Vila Real District, they ceased their activity in 1986. After a period of looting and devaluation, the mining facilities today are in the process of recovery and heritage revitalization, as well as the natural context in which they are inserted.
Facilities
The Borralha mine is one of the only ones that has facilities to complete the complete tungsten transformation process. In addition to the extraction mines, it has open-air quarries from which, once the material was extracted, it was taken to the laundries. At the beginning of the century the so-called "old laundry" was installed, which was essential in the 1940s and was practically disused since 1958. The new one, built in the 1940s, did not operate until the year 62, after a temporary "closure" of the mine. Also from the late 1940s is the foundry that makes this mine unique. The mine includes a compressor room, a water channeling system to generate electricity and the "Stockwerk" to transport ore from the upper area to the lower area.
To these facilities are added those for accommodation and coexistence: the cuartos novos - the first settlement of the mine and still inhabited -, the barrio de guard or the barrio novo are some of the areas where the mine workers lived; in addition to the engineers' houses, located in another area. Likewise, the mine had several bars and a Pension and a Cantina where numerous parties were held and the mine's cultural headquarters.
History of the mine
Contenido
En 1902 se otorga la concesión de las primeras extracciones en favor de la , que en 1909 fue Mines de Borralha, SA Bruselas y en 1914 pasó a ser Mines de Borralha SA Paris.[1] Se dice que fue Domingos Borralha quien, yendo a pedir trabajo a las Minas de Estaño y Wolframio de Ribeira, en el distrito de Bragança, observó unas "piedras" como las de su tierra: la wolframita. Escuchándole el supervisor Paul Marijon, se fue a buscar el origen de Borralha, donde descubrió el yacimiento, naciendo así la mina.