Mines

The ancient mines

The Valle d’Aosta has a wealth of mines, which were exploited from ancient times and now either sold off or abandoned. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the iron and copper mines were used to satisfy the increasing needs of the Savoy arsenal. The ancient mines are often located in extremely beautiful panoramic sites and sometimes still have the remains of the structures used in the mining activity: they are places worth visiting as they combine interesting industrial archaeology sites with splendid opportunities for mountain walking. The Cogne mines provide interesting

industrial archaeology evidence: the remains of the cable-way for transporting the minerals and the cable-cars for the passengers from Cogne to Colonna and the numerous mine buildings are all clearly visible. In Cogne, you can also visit the ancient silver mine of Valeille, the copper mine of Ecloseur and the magnetite mine of Larsinaz. The mining area of Saint-Marcel is also particularly important from an historical and scientific point of view; there are signs of activity dating back to Roman times, the Middle Ages and the 18th century. A pathway that starts from the pic-nic area of Druges

(1594) takes you on a 2-hour walk to the Mining Park of Chuc and Servette, whose deposits included pyrites and chalcopyrite. This route allows you to see the site and its mining structures in their original geological context, as well as the slag heaps characterised by attractive greeny-blue and yellowy-orange deposits, indicating the presence of malachite and ferrous hydroxide.