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A journey into history. Where technology, mining and economic growth also bring well-being and are combined with a universe in which social development is intertwined with industrial development. A parable that starts in 1850 and ends in early 2000. One hundred and fifty years of history that Mauro Buosi, a geologist with long experience in the mining sector, reconstructs in his book “Monteponi, history of a mining company in Sardinia from 1850 to the threshold of 2000 ” (for Isolapalma).
Galena argentifera
In just under 500 pages the geologist, who in the past has also written two other books (Pertusola and Porto Flavia) retraces the events of the company, and of an entire human universe that has revolved around it, «leaving its mark on the industrial and mining world ». Through research in the archives, cataloging and analysis of official documents, it is possible to draw a precise picture which is not limited to the sole activity of the mining company, the extraction of argentiferous galena (the raw material from which it is obtained after a complex manufacturing process lead and silver).
11 maggio 1920
In the pages of the book he reconstructs the evolution and economic, industrial and technological progress of a territory, for years devoted precisely to the exploitation of mineral resources. In this journey there are not only projects that tell of the work done underground, going hundreds of meters deep, even going below sea level, but also that cosmos that revolved around it. Joys and sorrows that characterized and contributed to changing a journey that lasted 150 years. From the re-enactment of the events of 11 May 1920, the miners’ protest culminated with the killing of 5 miners and 26 injuries in Iglesias to the construction of the private Monteponi Porto Vesme railway.
Then the changes, the growth and the opening towards the city that expands, and the mining company which, very often, with its social status replaces the public by guaranteeing services not only to its employees but to the entire community, with sports facilities, support for the school for the training of mining experts and health services. Then the scholarships for the miners’ children, the economy that works and the economic growth with the miners who abandon their bicycles to buy cars. A journey down memory lane through photos, the reproduction of historical documents, projects and testimonies that go back to the 90s, when the decline began and the closure process began. Just when the projects of the 80s, for a relaunch of the sector with new initiatives, come to an end and a path begins that will lead to the shutdown of the water pumps that “dry” the tunnels and wells dug below sea level. And therefore what remains today: a heavy legacy made up of buildings, partly used and largely unsafe, as well as areas to be reclaimed and rehabilitated. A new world which, as the author underlines, “cannot ignore the past but should start from there”.
«The history of mining and industrial activity was made in Monteponi, not only in Sardinia but in the whole of Italy – comments Buosi – this work aims to reconstruct an important piece of that past which would be good to recover and valorise. Starting also from the structures that can still be saved, with a view to growth and development.”