
They are remains of mines from very different periods, from the Roman period, with the extraction of gold in Mina As Cárquivas, to much more recent exploitations, such as Mina Pena Tascón, which was abandoned in 1957.
The mines that can be visited in the municipality of Villanueva de Oscos are the following:
Extraction:
Gold
Chronology:
Roman undetermined/ Imperial Roman, Approximate period 1st and 2nd century.
Location:
On the AS-27 from El Puerto de la Garganta towards Santa Eulalia de Oscos.
Accessibility:
Good, by the AS-27 and AS-13.
Description:
Exploitation on primary, consisting of three cuts (open pit excavations worked with the Ruina Montium system), a gallery and tailings deposit.
Mining:
iron ore and copper.
Chronology:
S. XVIII and XIX
Location:
It is accessed by the AS-11 towards Puerto de la Garganta from Vegadeo and turn off towards the village of Busdemouros.
Accessibility:
Good, by road AS-13 and AS-11 and asphalted track.
Description:
Ditches, slag heaps, and mouths can be seen.
Extraction:
Iron with lead and zinc
Chronology:
From the 14th to the 20th century (exploitation was abandoned in 1957).
Location:
Pena Curiscada, southeast of Villanueva de Oscos, near the village of Ovellariza.
Accessibility:
good by the AS-13, asphalt road from Ovellariza and a short stretch of dirt road.
Description:
The loading dock, trench, wagons, railroad track and galleries can be seen.
Some artisans perform demonstrations in their workshops of the craft they develop. In this way, visitors can see the whole process of elaboration of the products, which also allows them to actively participate in the process.
Traditionally, in Santa Eulalia de Oscos, knives have been made for more than a century. Nowadays Jorge (knifemaker) and Keiko (metal craftswoman) maintain this tradition developing this ancient craft to which they add part of the Japanese ancestral wisdom.
There are remains in the Oscos region that tell us that mining was an activity that was developed in the area since prehistoric times. Before the conquest of the Romans, the inhabitants of this region were already looking for gold nuggets in the river placers. But it was after the arrival of the Romans that this industry was boosted. In the Flavian period, at the beginning of the first century A.D., a first golden age was experienced. The castros (fortified settlements) resurged as a result of the exploitations and the landscape was dotted with small industries of which there are still remains such as: forges, function furnaces and samples of the technology that was used for the exploitation of the deposit.