Mining history of Sardinia

the history of the exploitation of the Ore S in Sardinia , and thus work in the mines, goes back to very remote times.

The tradesmen and the explorers were accustomed to attending the coasts of the island, attracted by the formidable richnesses of the Sardinian basement. Various Toponyme S, which is there dependant in one way or another, thus testifies to the very old presence of the mining activity: Argentiera, Montiferru, Funtana Raminosa, and Capo Ferrato, to give only some examples of them.

Prehistory

The mining long story of Sardinia probably begins around thousand-year-old VIIe front J. - C. with the extraction of the Obsidienne on the Mont Arci in the center Is island. The Arci Mount was one of the most important Mediterranean centers of the extraction and industry of this Volcanic rock. Traces of at least 70 mining centers and approximately 160 infrastructures stable or temporary were found in this area, since which the obsidian was transported to the south of the France and the north of the Italy.

Around the OJ the techniques and the knowledge of the Métallurgie arrive and are diffused in Sardinia, probably imported Eastern basin of the Mediterranean, which gives to the nuragic Culture a advanced level of technology. At the same time developed mining technology, allowing the increasing extraction of minerals and thus of metals. The geographical position of the island, and especially its mining inheritance, attracted between the Xe and VIIIe front centuries J. - C. the tradesmen Phéniciens, who were gradually replaced by the Carthaginois at sixth century BC. Both exploited in an intense way the mining richnesses, especially in the iglesiente, where traces of excavations and waste of fusion ascribable to this period were found. The archaeological traces also testify to an intense metallurgical activity close to the rich person layers of Minerai of the Sarrabus, consisted of minerals made up oxidized and the sulphurs of Fer, Cuivre and Plomb.

The Roman epoch

the Roman domination of Sardinia started in 238 av. J. - C. when Carthage succumbed to the Romans in the First Punic War. The Mercenary S on the island rebelling, the Carthaginians had to yield it to Rome. Sardinia became province of the Roman Empire in 226 av. J. - C..

The mining activity increased enormously under the Romans, especially when they were the layers of lead and money. The Roman République had adopted the money like money Supply in 269 av. J. - C., while lead was omnipresent in the civil life, being used in the production of many products, energy of the Vaisselle to the pipeline water. Sardinia was the third greater area under Roman domination per quantity of metals produced, after the Spain and the Great Britain. The mining production during the Roman domination is estimated at approximately 600.000 ton S of lead and 1.000 tons of money. The mining activity of the Romans was not limited to the basin iglesiente ; they knew well and exploited the rich person layers of money of the Sarrabus, which carried out the geographer Solino to be written: “India ebore, argento Sardinia, Attica Miss” .

The system of extraction of the ores consisted, at the time Roman, to make vertical wells which could go beyond hundred Mètre S of depth. The work of these wells, carried out with simple manual tools and sometimes of fire, was undertaken initially by minor free, said metallari , then, starting from 190 av. J. - C. approximately, by slaves and Prisonnier S, the latter known as damnati AD effodienda metalla .

In the year 369 the emperor Valentinien Ier issued that each ship which would throw the anchors in Sardinia should pay customs duties of 5 Centime S for each metallaro transported. Successively, the emperors Gratien, Valens and Valentinien II prohibited with all the metallari to be established on the island, decrees probably caused by the fear that the exceptional richnesses of the Sardinian layers can decrease the importance of the money mines of the Iberian peninsula, then imperial property. The Sardinian mining production thus decreased considerably at the end of the Roman epoch. Some layers continued their activity in order to satisfy the needs limited for the insular market, but much of others were given up, of which some which were forgotten a long time, like those of Sarrabus.

The Middle Ages

Following the fall of the Roman Empire of occident, the history of Sardinia started to develop in a way different with that from the Italian Péninsule. After the short bracket of the occupation vandal, the island fell under Byzantine domination , under which the mining production and the metallurgical activity recorded a certain rebirth. The money became again one of the principal products of export of Sardinia, even if the commercial traffic in the the Mediterranean became difficult starting from 700 because of the raids of the buckwheats, of which those on the Sardinian coast which caused the progressive depopulation of the coastal establishments to the profit of those inside the island.

Being isolated from the remainder of the Byzantine empire, Sardinia knew in this period its first true politico-administrative autonomy. The island organized itself in four sovereign kingdoms, or Judicat S: Cagliari, Raised, Logudoro and Gallura. There exists only little of documents on the mining history of the period judicale , but it is reasonable to think that the mining activity was not completely abandoned. In 1131 the giudice Gonario di Torres gave half of the area of Argentiera della Nurra to the church of Holy Marie of Pisa, thus testifying to the strong political bonds between the weak Sardinian states and the common Toscane.

It is at the beginning of the 11th century, in fact, that under the auspice of the papal court of Benoît XIII, both maritime republics, Genoa and Pisa, intervenirent in the Sardinian history, initially as allied against the Moslem emir Mujāhid Al `Āmirī, which controlled some parts of the island, and then as competitors for the control of weak the Judicat S Sardinians. The quarrel was solved with the favor of Pisa. Indeed, the peace of 1087 between Gênois and Pisans made prevail the kingdom pisan on all the Sardinian territory.

This period pisane is very well documented as regards mining history. The pisane family of the counts of Donoratico, under Ugolino della Gherardesca, gave a new life to the mining activities in her Sardinian fields, in particular in the iglesiente . Ugolino operated on a territory of approximately 500 Kilomètre S squares named Argentaria del Sigerro in honor of the high content in money of its basement. It supported the transfer of Tuscan knowledge in Sardinia, particularly as regards mining work, and more generally the repopulation of its own fields. The main result of the demographic policy of Donoratico was the rise and the development of Villa di Chiesa , current the Iglesias.

The pisans reprenèrent the work of the Romans by opening many wells and by redécouvrant the old ones. The intense activity in the mines, like in the political life, economic and social, was regulated by a series of Loi S joined together in a Codex subdivided in four volumes called the Breve di Villa di Chiesa . In this codex regulation of the mining activity, and in particular the extraction of the money, revêt of a role of importance. The offenses against the mining activity were severely punished: the Capital punishment was planned not only for those which flew of the money or minerals while containing, but also for the founder S which extracted from the stolen mineral money.

No matter who could undertake the mining activity in the area of Argentiera; it was not rare that companies were created to this end, in which the participants had actions of the company. Certain partners of these companies limited themselves to advance the capital necessary.

Work developed by digging more wells, known as bottini , and galleries, follow-up of the veins, though here the extension of work was rather limited. To work the rock small pickaxes and other manual tools were used; fire was used for the harder rock. The working week began midday Monday and finished midday Saturday. The minors worked twelve hours per day; it was to them interdict to stop. Work in the mines was suspended for the summer because of the insalubrity of the climate, the coastal regions in particular being strongly struck by the Paludisme. It is calculated that the Sardinian minors provided 15 tons of the noble metal per annum to the town of Pisa for the period which goes from XIIe in XIVe centuries. The splendor of the Tuscan city thus was partly created by approximately 6.500 metallari with Villa di Chiesa .

Pisa loses its Sardinian fields in 1326 in favor of the crown of the Royaume of Aragon. The loss of the island, and especially of its money, was the beginning of the decline of the Tuscan city, then rival with Lucques and Florence.

The Aragonese crown took control itself of the mines and the rights inherent in the exploitation of money the rich person layers with an aim of preventing that those are wasted in arguments between noble Aragonese. The level of mining activity very reduced is compared with the period pisane. Following the total conquest of the island, Aragonese sought to give a new dash to the extraction of the money: the customs, the taxes and the rights of the crown on the ores were reduced. However, this government scheme does not succeed in giving again with mining industry Sardinian sound old splendor. The mining activity thus saw a continuous decline under the Aragonese domination and possibly Spanish; Sardinia, formerly one of the most important areas of the world as regards money extraction, sees itself forced to import the noble metal since the Spanish possessions of the Nouveau World. Sardinian mining industry however was not destroyed; it still turned for the small domestic market, in particular with regard to the Plomb.

The use by the administration of state of subordiner the mining activity by assigning concessions, was stabilized during the Spanish domination. At least forty concessions for the exploration and the exploitation of the Sardinian layers were assigned. Those, eight were general concessions (i.e., extending on all the Sardinian territory), and eighteen limited to the area of Iglesias. Those assigned of the concessions were held to give 10 % of the value of the ores extracted to the owner ground.

At this period correpond also the first attempt to reopen the mines of Sarrabus, closed since more than thousand years. In fact, the June 6th 1622, some Gio. Antonio Agus obtains the permission to explore the Mont Narba, close to San Vito.

The Spanish domination on Sardinia finished after a little less than four hundred years, following the vicissitudes of the War of succession of Spain and of the attempt at reconquest on behalf of the cardinal Alberoni.

Time of the Kingdom of Sardinia

See also: Kingdom of Sardinia

In 1720, like consequence of the treated of London, the island passes under control of the Maison of Savoy. The kingdom gave a new dash to the mining activity, which was related to the general concessions, as under Spanish. The first to obtain this kind of concession, one twenty years duration, were the cagliaritani Pietro Neddu and Stefano Lasting. In 1740 concession the thirty years was assigned with the British Charles Brander, the baron Charles de Holtzendorff and with the consul Swedish with Cagliari, Karl Gustaf Mandel. The contract stipulated that the concerned ones were to pour 12% of the crystals and 2% of the money extracted with the royal tax during the first four years, like 5% for the 6 successive years and 10% for the 20 remaining years. The rights were to be sent at the same time as the exported ores, and every six months for those sold in the island.

The new businesses, especially that of Mandel, introduisèrent various technological innovations, of which the use of the Explosif S during the extraction. Experts as regards mining were taken along to Sardinia, of which many German. It is in Mandel also that one owes the Fonderie of lead of Villacidro. It was however marked, by the Royal Intendance, to transfer exploration to the other mining ones, limiting itself to the exploitation of the already existing mines. An investigation open for investiguer was supposed the tax irregularities which succeeds, in 1758, with the revocation of its concessions.

In 1762 the Mines Inspectorate Sardinian passed to the hands of the director mines, Pietro de Belly, which blocked the private mining activity to let the state exploit the richnesses of the Sardinian basement directly. Belly also sought to reintroduce the forced labor with the mines; this deserved a criticism of to him Quintino Sella in 1771. Belly missed also the exploitation by the rich person mines of money of Sarrabus, of which Mandel had seen the potential. In fact, Belly found its exploitation too expensive because of the rough ground and the difficulty of communicating with the area. The mining share of the south-eastern area of the island is discovered only at the time of the next century.

The last years of the 18th century were important for Sardinian mining industry; traces of Fer were found close to Arzana, as well as traces of Antimoine around Ballao. At the beginning of the 17th century there were 59 mines in Sardinia, mainly of lead, iron, copper and money. Rebirth of the mining activity attraya several adventurers Piedmontese and other European nations, in particular the French Honore de Balzac which, in 1838, gave again life with an initiative of exploitation of the old lead dies in the plain of the Nurra.

The new mining law was founded in 1840; this one envisaged the separation of the property of the ground to that of the basement. According to the new law no matter who could ask for the authorization of carry out mining prospections S; it was to get a written authorization of the owner of the grounds on which it thought of working, but if the owner opposed it and this opposition were not argued enough, the Préfet could concede the authorization all the same. The single obligation of mining was to pour with the owner 3% of the value of the extracted ores and to remunerate it for the damage caused by its grounds. This law entered fully into force on the island only in 1848, after which the " was carried out; perfect fusion" ( perfetta amalgamates ) of Sardinia with the continental grounds belonging to the Maison of Savoy.

The new law facilitated the granting of the concession minings and attracted many contractors, in particular Ligurians and Piedmontese, and saw being born the first company devoted to exploit the prommeteurs Sardinian layers. A company Gênoise (the Società Nazionale per the mining coltivazione di in Sardegna ) in vain tried to obtain a general concession. This kind of concession in fact was formally prohibited by the new law to prevent the constitution of Monopole S of the mining activity. The project of the Società Nazionale thus fell to water; one thus sees the creation of a great number of companies controlled by the same protagonists of the Società Nazionale , in an effort to see itself granting the most possible concessions. The majority of the mining companies operating on the Sardinian territory was thus of nonSardinian capital. A significant exception is that of the Sardinian contractor Giovanni Antonio Sanna, who obtained a perpetual concession on approximately 1200 Hectare S in the area of Montevecchio in 1848. Many companies did not have technical capabilities to operate in the mining market; those went bankrupt or were amalgamated with others to form larger and more stable companies.

In 1858 the exiled of origin romagnaise Enrico Serpieri made build the foundry of Domusnovas for the exploitation of the lead ores present in the old mines, and little time after another with Fluminimaggiore. In 1862 these two foundries of Serpieri produced already 56% of all lead sard extracts from the old excavations.

After the unification of Italy

It is starting from 1865 that the Zinc was added to the list of the principal extracted ores, the others being lead and the money. In fact, calamine (Hémimorphite, or Silicate of zinc) was found in the mines of Malfidano with Buggerru.

The Dynamite was introduced in Italy around 1868; she had been invented the previous year by the chemist Swedish Alfred Nobel. This invention revolutionized in little time the techniques of extraction, reducing its cost, even in the wet mines.

Meanwhile, misfortunes of Sardinia within the new Italian state increased. In 1867 the Sardinian deputies requested from the President the Council of Ministers, Bettino Ricasoli, a greater implication of the state in the relief of the misery in which lived the Sardinian population. Social faintness leads to serious disorders with Nuoro in April 1868; the whole people raised themselves with the cry of " Known connottu! Known connottu! " , against the sale of the grounds of the state. A parliamentary commission of investigation was established shortly after this event, was chaired by Agostino Depretis and cash among its members the Piedmontese deputy Quintino Sella. This last, mining Engineer, published a report on the state of Sardinian mining industry in 1871, work which constitutes a document of extraordinary importance. Sella, accompanied by Eugenio Marchese, the director of the mining district of Sardinia, visited the principal mines and metallurgical establishments of the island during a voyage which lasted 18 days. Their report/ratio highlighted the increasing importance of Sardinian mining industry in the Italian economy. The years 1868 - 1869 transfer to work 9171 employees in the Sardinian mines, almost triple that in 1860. In fact, following the extension in 1840 of the mining laws of Piedmont in Sardinia and with its modification in 1859 to support the mining industrialists, there were a rapid development of research and exploitations, an increase in the production and thus in the Labor employed. In 1870 the licenses of prospections, which were only 83 in 1861, increased to 420, and the concessions by 16 to 32. The ores thus produced passed from 9379,8 ton S in 1860 to 127 924,6 in 1868-1869, and their value tripled during these same years to reach the £ 13 464,780.

The report/ratio of Sella also allowed to facilitate the transport of the ores to the ports, and thus the mining companies had built, until in 1870,30 Kilomètre S of Railroad and 181 of Route S. the constant development of mining industry encouraged the arrival of Technicien S (engineers, geologists) and of employees of administration coming from other areas of Italy. Being given the low educational level and technical preparation of the Sardinians, even most of the labor came from the continent.

Most of the time, the mining companies operating on the island took attitudes which one can today define as a colonialists; they were often limited to exploit the richest parts of their mines, then transferring the ores extracted on the continent to be treated there. The enormous profits thus made were not reinvested on the spot, if is only to facilitate the lines of business.

The report/ratio of Sella did not fail to show the economic disparity between mining the Sardinians and those of continental origin, as well as the need for a school for mining chiefs and founders with Iglesias. The report/ratio concluded with a recommendation to increase the capital paid-up in Sardinian industry to impel its development, and surlignait the urgent need for building an highway network, like supplementing the principal railroads. It highlighted also the need for creating and for developing a telegraphic system adequate; he asked the principal mining companies to create some with their own means to make the communication faster. This proposal however was ignored by the law, which guarantees shortly after to the state the monopoly on the construction of this important infrastructure.

The seat of the mining district was transferred from Cagliari to Iglesias in 1872.

Italian mining industry knew the emergence of a new sector the previous year. Indeed, it was following the beginnings of the exploitation of the rich person basement of Sarrabus which the production of the money begins. A cycle of production opened thus which lasted forty years. Of the first 15 tons produced in 1871 in the area of the Narba Mount, one reaches them quickly: 2000 tons annual on average during the decade going from 1880 to 1890, decade that Rolandi will call “the silver decade” ( it decennio argenteo ) when the production reaches the value of two million to read . From the three mines which were in the area in 1871, one passed to ten in twenty years, number which decreased with only one during the permanent closure of the places.

Sarrabus saw a kind of rush towards the money, so much the large companies, of which the Company of Lanusei ( Società di Lanusei ) and that of Monteponi, which small noble metal researchers. They are reflected to present hundreds of requests for license to carry out mining prospections S on the territories of the communes of Muravera, Villaputzu and San Vito in particular. Already, in 1851 the company génoise Unione Sulcis E Sarrabus , whose principal shareholders were the Belgian Emile and Helene Poinsel, is lived to allot in concession the mine of Gibbas, close to Villaputzu, but work was abandoned there because of the many difficulties related to the strong incidence of the Paludisme. In 1870 the delle company génoise Società Anonima Miniere di Lanusei obtained a prospecting permit in the zone of the Narba Mount, in the commune of San Vito. In 1885 the engineer French Leon Goüin created with Genoa the Società Tacconis-Sarrabus to exploit the basement of Tacconis. Goüin created also the Company of the mines of Rio Ollastu to Paris in 1888.

During its time of greater splendor, the layers of Sarrabus employed 1500 mining, distributed among in the mines of Masaloni, Giovanni Bonu, the Narba Mount, Perd' Arba, Baccu Arrodas, of Tuviois, of wandered itself and llixi and of Nicola Secci. To have an precise idea of the quantitative value of the siver-bearing layer of Sarrabus, one can say that while in the rest of the world the average money content by quintal of lead oscillated between 200 and 300 Gram S, in Sarrabus it rose with one kilogram per quintal. With Baccu Arrodas it was even higher.

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