Sardinia is one of the most geologically rich and complex regions in Europe. The territories of the Geomining Park offer unique mining marks in the world, able to interest the most demanding scientists, enthusiasts, lovers of culture and science.

The changes in landscape, caused by the mining activity over time, are evident in inland but also on the coasts, witnessed by the numerous examples of industrial engineering that today still characterize the territory.

There are 54 mining sites within the Geomining Park. Of these, 19 can be visited.

From the lower Paleozoic up to present, minerogenetic processes have developed, producing the concentration of metals and minerals of industrial interest, in deposits of different types, genesis and entity. The orogenetic events and the imposing granitic intrusions have activated hydrothermal circuits, with deposition of various types of mineralization, such as talc-chlorite and mineralizations with magnetite and sulphide. The deposition of carbonate sediments starting from the Jurassic, was completed at the end of the Mesozoic, when Sardinia emerged completely and several layers of coal deposited in the south-western area (Sulcis), combined in a calcareous-marly succession.

The importance of each area, within the framework of mining sites, is related to the development of a particular mineral deposit: from the metalliferous ore deposits to the presence of the important Funtana Raminosa copper mining, which played a significant role in the history of metallurgy in the Mediterranean area, starting from the Neolithic age. From the zinc and silver metal deposits, exploited since the Roman colonization, to the metallic antimony deposits, exploited since the Phoenician and Punic invasions, which made the area of ​​Serrabus, Gerrei  the second island mining district, between 1800 and 1900.

The most important mines are present in the so-called “metal ring of the Iglesiente”, where lead, silver and zinc mineralizations are located in the carbonatic geological formations which, with over 500 million years are the oldest paleontologically dated rocks in Italy.