Mining Sites

Sardinia is one of the regions in Italy with the highest number of mining concessions (over 600). The territories of the Geomining Park offer mining features that are unique in the world, capable of interesting the most demanding scholars, enthusiasts, and lovers of culture and science.

Inland but also on the coasts, the changes in the landscape caused by the mining activity carried out over time are evident and are testified by the numerous examples of industrial engineering that still characterize the area today.

The magnificent variety, quantity, and richness of mineral deposits, which have been exploited for thousands of years, are a clear and direct consequence of the extraordinary diversity of geological events that have occurred over the last 500 million years.

Almost all the concentrations of useful minerals that characterize Sardinia's geological environment, especially if very ancient, are the result of a complex mineral-genetic history, characterized by complex and lengthy evolutionary events that have transformed the structure and composition of primitive mineralizations, forming new and more substantial mineralized bodies.
Overall, seven main metallogenic periods have been identified in Sardinia, dating back to the Lower Cambrian, of which the first five are the most important and developed during the Paleozoic Era and the Permian-Triassic transition.
The sixth developed during the Mesozoic (Middle Cretaceous) and the seventh during the Cenozoic.
In addition to these main metallogenic periods, we also note the coal deposits, specifically those of Permian anthracite and those of sub-bituminous coal (“Lignitifero” Auct.) from the Lower Eocene.

From 1850 to the present day, there have certainly been over 250 concessions for the exploitation of metallic minerals.
In addition to these, there has been an impressive number of productive exploration permits (i.e., those that have extracted quantities of ore for a certain period of time), some of which have become mines, some of which have been incorporated into mines already in production, and some of which have not been renewed.
As a result, there are numerous areas on the island affected by mining activities.
In practice, the entire territory of the island has been affected by mining, with a higher concentration in southwestern Sardinia, southeastern Sardinia, Barbagia, Sarcidano, and Nurra, areas that largely correspond to the “eight historic mining areas” of the Historical and Environmental Geomining Park of Sardinia.