The Orani - Guzzurra - Sos Enattos area is located in central Sardinia and consists of two distinct zones, one located NE of the city of Nuoro (Guzzurra - Sos Enattos) and the other SW of the city of Nuoro (Orani). The Orani area covers 130 square kilometers, equal to 3.5% of the total area of the Geomining Park of Sardinia. The area's importance from a geomining point of view is due to the presence of an important talc-steatite deposit, a recently processed feldspar deposit, and numerous marble and granite quarries.
This is a somewhat mountainous and rather impervious area, partly consisting of gentle and medium height reliefs; the morphological structure of the region shows a close and obvious relationship with the lithological characteristics of the outcropping formations.
The highest altitude is represented by Mount Gonare which is divided into two cone-shaped peaks with respective altitudes of 1,083 m above sea level (Mount Gonare) and 1,045 m above sea level (Mount Gonareddu). On the highest peak an evocative sanctuary was built. The other reliefs rarely reach 800 m. The entire area was known since the Late Neolithic due to the existence of steatite that was processed for the production of valuable and ornamental objects including statuettes of the Goddess Mother.
The extraction of talc, on an industrial scale, began in 1917 as a quarry material and in 1927 as a raw material, although this raw material had already been known since the mid-nineteenth century. The archeological aspects of the Orani area are marked by the presence of the Nuragic temple of Nurdòle, located on top of a hill. The monument, built in an inland area of the Nuorese territory, at a crossroads penetrating from the western and eastern coasts, has a complex architecture, and a considerable amount of artifacts have been found in it.
The Guzzurra-Sos Enattos area is located in the northern Barbagia region, in central-eastern Sardinia. It covers an area of 133 square kilometers, equal to 3.5% of the total area of the Geomining Park. The area's interest from a mining point of view is due to the presence of some metal deposits of lead, zinc, copper, and silver, proof of the mining activity that has now completely ceased. The main morphological features are those typical of hilly areas, with gentle shaped, small hills that slightly exceed 400 meters in altitude and weak valley incisions, oriented according to the main tectonic lines of the area.
In the mining area, the landscape is characterized by its proximity to Mount Albo, an elongated limestone bastion about 30 km long, from which the landscape of the “Baronie”, the “Northern Barbagia” territory, the seascape of the East Coast, Mount Senes, Mount Tuttavista, the island of Tavolara, the Supramonte, up to the Marghine-Goceano and Gennargentu mountain ranges, are largely dominated. The geology of the area is characterized by the presence of Paleozoic crystalline basement rocks (metamorphites infiltrated by Hercynian granites and a complex Phylonian field) covered, in the eastern sectors by the Mesozoic limestones and dolomites of Siniscola's Mount Albo. The Sos Enattos deposit, the main one in the area, was known and cultivated since ancient times. In fact, some tunnels identified in the past have been traced back to Roman times and some shafts to the 11th century. The mining of lead and zinc ores is thus evidence of a mining culture since ancient times. The activity, which at its peak employed hundreds of workers, experienced a phase of deep crisis in the 1960s, which over the years has led to the gradual cessation of the mine.