Excursion-escapade to Rio Tinto

Ore in these places was mined 5000 years ago by the inhabitants of the ancient Western civilization - the city - the state of Tartesse. In these mountains mined copper, iron and manganese ore. And also gold and silver. Natives of the ancient city-state of Tyre paved the way here in the time of King Salomon of Judea. Every three years from Tartessus to Judea were convoys of huge Tyrian ships loaded with ore, monkeys, turkeys and elephant tusks. At that time, in Judea, dishes were cast only from gold. Silver was sometimes used to cast bricks. Under the Romans, with their advanced engineering, this type of activity was especially developed. From 209 BC, all Roman coins were minted from silver from mines in what is now Andalusia. In the 19th century, the British began to dominate these places.

We will visit this mining area of southern Spain. One of the most interesting places of our trip will be the largest quarry in Europe - Cerro Colorado. It's 230 meters deep. From the observation deck, the locomotive left on one of its levels seems the size of a cockroach (in the photo you will not see it). In the 19th century, a concession to develop these mines was granted to the British (Rio Tinto LTD). So there were several settlements of English miners. We'll visit one of them. There you can go to the house-museum of one of the mining families of the time of Queen Victoria, see the Protestant church of that blessed era for the British Empire. From this British colony to Spain came a passion for golf and football. Yes, yes! The first football club in Spain was born here, in the town of Nerva, which is 3 km from this quarry!

But first we will walk through the industrial landscapes of mining, stretching along the Rio Tinto River. Abandoned smelting furnaces and steam locomotives, trolleys and winches, tricks of mines and dumps of spent ore: this is the landscape that will accompany us all the way. But the main attraction of this area is the Rio Tinto River itself!

It has the color of saturated permanganate! This is due to the fact that in its waters live bacteria that process the sulfides of iron and copper ores that come to the surface, in sulfuric acid and sulfites. Ph of the waters of this river 2-2.5 is concentrated acid! This eco-system is unique. There is no such thing on the entire planet. That is why this area was chosen by NASA (together with the Center for Astrobiology). INTA/SCIS. Spain to test its development of a future robotic perforator on the Martian surface and methods for searching for extraterrestrial life (extremophile bacteria). Mars Astrobiology Research and Technology Experiment (MARTE)

Play your friends and give them your photos taken in the Rio Tinto area for photos from Mars, but... with your presence on them! And it won't be Photoshop!

Transfer from Malaga and back. Guide fee