| The Riotinto mines have been exploited for over 5000 years, emphasizing above all, the Roman period in which nine million tons of slag was generated, 71.13% of mineral was extracted during this period.; The extraction of metals by the Romans, above all silver was accomplished by contact between gossans mineral of the upper part of the mountain and the sulphate, where a layer of jarosite mineral with a thickness of one metre overtaking its reserves of up to three million tons, of which had been extracted 800.000, obtaining nearly one thousand tons of silver.; At the end of the Roman period thirteen centuries followed of inactivity of which information from miners and metallurgists was lost until it was recovered by a Swede named WOLTERS who was succeeded by his nephew TIQUET who implanted the method of exploitation by "rooms and pillars" of which was maintained by several exploiters that followed, until it was sold to the English in 1873.; The environmental phenomenon already existed before the exploitation by the Romans, where a certain natural or geo-chemical contamination was deduced, this was produced when the scoria waters passed over the edges of the outcrops crossing springs and mineralization, with this began a strong environmental impact which was seen increasing when the forests were totally flattened by consequence of its wood for timbering for miners labour and combustible for the metallurgic furnaces above all acid rain with the following problem the lose of nutrients in the ground.; In this doctoral thesis mining metallurgic and the environmental impact have been analysed all of which produced in the Riotinto Region from ancient times until 1873 in which a radical change in the mines was produced due to its purchase by the English company "The Rio Tinto Company Limited ". |
