Red Mine by Broken Window Theory, on FlickrDuring our Italy urbex road trip with the lads from The Proper People and the Italian photographer tobi_urbex we came across this impressive dead mine. The valley in which this place is located was characterized by mining centuries ago.
Miniera Rossa #02 by Broken Window Theory, on FlickrAlready several hundred years ago the digging had started and there used to be mines everywhere in the proximity. But by now all of them are abandoned. And one of those dead mines was our destination for this day.It's hard to see this on the pictures but the place was partly built into the mountain. But we weren't really equipped for long, dark tunnels. At this day we wanted to stick with the beautiful main building.
Conveyor Belts by Broken Window Theory, on FlickrShortly before the turn of the millennium this mine became disused. For 20 years the building has been decaying now. The one end of one conveyor belt directly leads into the mountain. But it's also an entrance to the main building, that's why we were taking this way. Even though we weren't well equipped for that as we mentioned earlier. A bit deeper in the tunnel there is a way down to the mine shaft and a way up to the building. We were following the feeder band upstairs.
Miniera Rossa #05 by Broken Window Theory, on FlickrUnfortunately, the building doesn't look as stunning from the inside as it does from the outside. As a matter of fact, it's just a huge death trap and we really felt uncomfortable the whole time during this exploration. Because of wind and whether there's rust all over the place. Holes are everywhere in the thin sheet metal floor, so every single step has to be taken thoughtfully.
Miniera Rossa #08 by Broken Window Theory, on FlickrNearly all of the stairs are already broken and should be avoided. But in order to explore all the different floors of the site we had to take the risk. A quick look at the ceiling reveals why the place is in such a bad condition: Due to the broken roof rainwater can get in easily. And vandals are speeding up the decay even more.
Miniera Rossa #10 by Broken Window Theory, on FlickrIn the past mainly fluorite was mined there. This is one of the most important industrial minerals for the steel and light metal production. Even today you can find plenty of machines here which were used to process the minerals. In this facility they were prepared for the transport to other parts of the country. In order to do that the rocks were crushed and washed.
Death Trap by Broken Window Theory, on FlickrIt's unclear when mining at this location started, but it probably was around the 1930s. About 100 pitmen used to work here during the time of the production peak in the ‘60s. After that time, the slow descent started. Demand slackened and the costs of mining became extremely high. This lead to downsizing and most of the workers had been laid off. In the ‘90s, only 30 employees were left. Half of them were working underground and were mining around one hundred tons of raw materials per day. In 1999, this was the last active mine in the valley. After all the other facilities weren't profitable any more, this one was also abandoned in the end. At this point, there is no hope left for this property. The mine next door was turned into a climbing park but this one is that decayed that the only option would be demolition.
River by Broken Window Theory, on FlickrIf you want to see more of this mine, feel free to watch our video of this exploration (starts at 5:40):
