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[Rocabruna Research Team]

The Ferreres mine was already exploited in the Middle Ages, at the beginning of the 13th century, during the reign of Jaume I (James the Conqueror), to extract copper, lead, silver and iron. But there are authors who claim that operations began in Roman times. It is not until the 18th century that we find the first well-documented exploitation claims. With some periods of inactivity, several changes of ownership and frequent ups and downs in the production, the mine continued to work until the end of the 19th century, with copper ore as a main object of exploitation (argentiferous galena seemed already worked out).

One of the most important works was Les Ferreres mine. You could enjoy extended and complex galleries, mineral formations, amazing colors... and new minerals.
In this book you will find over 40 mineral species, some of them not previously described in Spain or Catalunya. We have also published interviews with former miners and we tell you some of the legends of the area and the mine.

"Les Ferreres” mine (the legal name of the concession) was reopened in 1945, mainly to extract Baryte. The lack of profit led to the definitive closing of operations in 1962. Currently, on the outside of the mine there are only ruins of some facilities and several dumps.

In the summer of 2010 one of the members of Grup Mineralògic Català provided several samples taken from the galleries of the mine. We immediately noted that the mineralization could be very diverse in secondary arsenate minerals. While continued visits during 2011, characterizations were initiated by electron microscopy SEM -EDS and, in some cases, electron microprobe (EPMA ) or by X-ray diffraction (XDR) trying to characterize rare species.

We have characterized uncommon species as claraite, theisite, cobaltkoritnigite, associated to adamite, olivenite, mimetite, tennantite, connellite, azurite, malachite, cerussite, anglesite, brochantite, devilline… And some unidentified species those are in study process.

In this book you will find many illustrations, 3D maps of the mine galleries, many excellent photomicrographs (José A. Soldevilla, Font Phillipe and Josep L. Garrido), together with SEM images and EDS analysis (by Joan Rosell) and a rich text descriptions: geology, mineral genesis, mining history, miners interviews, etc. The book is written in Catalan language, but we added, in the last chapters, all related to minerals in Spanish and English.

Rocabruna i el seu entorn. La mina de les Ferreres.
Rocabruna and its surroundings. "Les Ferreres" mine.
Joan Rosell, Josep L. Garrido, Joan Viñals, Valentín Bártulos,
Joan Vinyoles, Xavier Ortiz, Pedro Mingueza, Gemma Masons, Fermí Bobi.
128 pages. 29,7 x 21 cm.
More than 360 photos, full color.
Mining and mineralogy chapters also in Spanish and English.
Contact: gtrocabruna(at)gmail(dot)com
Price 25€ + post.