Made up of several coal exploitations of which we highlight the Pejão, Fojo and Germunde, the mining complex had the beginning of its activity in 1859. Managed by the Douro’s Coal Company, these exploitations were integrated into the coal basin of the Douro, with rocks old from the Paleozoic Carboniferous period. From its history, there is the period after 1933 with the arrival of belgian Jean Tyssen that with a high investment, increases the production in an impressive way, reaching in 1957, the 350,000 tons of extracted coal. Jean Tyssen also applied important social policies, investing in health, sports, culture, as well as improving working conditions. In 1994 the mines are officially closed and in the same year, it’s inaugurated a statue honoring the miner, in Germunde.
The Mining Complex of Pejão has a rich history, having worked here thousands of people. This tangible and intangible heritage is incalculable and, around the territory, we can still see traces of this place history. An example is one of the steam locomotives in Pedorido, used to carry the material from different complexes to the mouth of the Arda river, through its century-old railway bridge, where followed the Douro till Porto. The transport in the Douro was made by rabões boats, known as Esquadra Negra (black fleet) with a capacity of about 60 tons. In the Mining Complex of Germunde – the latest operational mines – you can still contemplate a vast heritage that takes us back in time to the era in which hundreds of people worked there. This built heritage is surrounded by a vast grove with dozens of species of trees and shrubs, from native species such as the pedunculate oak or ash, to several ornamental species such as silver fir trees, douglas fir or more mexican white cedars, supporting a considerable biodiversity with several species of mushrooms such as the ten thousand years or reishi mushroom known to have miraculous health benefits, ancestrally used in chinese medicine.
