The Arditurri mining district

For the most recent generations in the region, Arditurri is known simply as “the mines”, a name that is fairly enlightening. However, recent research has gone beyond the area’s current appearance, to reveal an interesting and particularly ancient site, and highlighting the importance of the place as long ago as in Roman times. To give some idea of the size of the excavated area, in 1803-04, the engineer Thalacker calculated with amazement that 400 men digging for 200 years would not have been able to excavate the 42 galleries and 82 shafts that he counted.

Even if we suppose that the area’s inhabitants were already mining this spot before the Romans arrived, a comparison can be made in the size of the works at this mine with the development of the civitas at Oiasso, in lower Bidasoa. What the Romans were most interested in was silver galena, from which they obtained silver. The galleries that have survived from that time fall into two distinct types: if the seam was visible, digging would continue in that direction, and the walls would later be widened into oval galleries two metres high by one metre wide, lit by oil lamps. When the miners were searching for a seam, the galleries were excavated by creating a steep incline that they negotiated with steps; then, when they found the mineral, they would open a new gallery to reach it.

The decline of Rome brought a change of direction in mining activity, as in the Middle Ages, iron was the mineral that was sought and extracted, to supply the valley's smithies. After centuries of inactivity, in the late 18th century, the Sein family from Oiartzun started mining here again, looking to extract lead. In 1830, the mines received a fresh impetus, this time from the Guipuzcoa Mining Company, which led to the loss of many of the old galleries. In the early 20th century, the Chavarri Brothers Company won the concession to work the mine, build a railway and level the land to create the landscape that we can see today. Up until 1965, the railway ran all the way to the port of Pasaia, where there was a large end infrastructure, the loading bay. Fluorite and sphalerite were the important minerals in what was the last mining activity here, though they were obtained not by excavating galleries, but from open-air quarries at Santa Bárbara and Otsamantegi.

This same railway route is used today as a bidegorri (cycle path). The mines are open to the public and have been fitted out for tours.

Further information here: www.arditurri.com