The mine named Mina da Poça da Cadela, the most important of Regoufe region began to be exploited on 09.09.1915, until the 70´s. In 1941 is constituted the Companhia Portuguesa de Minas, getting the exploration license and in fact belonged to the English. During World War II, British and Germans (these in Rio de Frades) explored tungsten next to each other, using it to build weapons and ammunition. The workforce here was just under 1,000 people, and some won fortunes overnight. There are stories of smoking banknotes of one hundred and five hundred escudos. Between 1935 and 1951 were extracted 639,000 tons of tungsten and tin from mines in the region of Regoufe, and the mining scars on the slopes of the mountain are still visible today.
At Regoufe’s stream numerous giant kettles can be observed resulting from the constant rock swirling in stone depressions. The best known is popularly called “boiler” and is a unique natural pool. In its waters one can normally see the white-throated dipper, small bird indicator of unpolluted rivers. Near theriver, the iberian emerald lizard can be seen in hot weather, with its exuberant colors. At rocky outcrops, the blue rock thrush marks its territory and the wall brown butterfly finds its favorite perch. Next to the trail that leads to the village of Drave, the scaly lipfern develops in large shale slabs facing south. But the focus here is for the countless mining galleries that multiply on the slopes of the mountain, which today constitute the habitat for some species of cave bats, as the greater horseshoe bat or the common bent-wing bat.
The origin of villages in this region predates the founding of the nation and even roman times, as in 1946 was found in Regoufe a gold bracelet of great beauty, witness of those times. Regoufe is now a small mountain village, harmoniously framed in the Regoufe’s stream valley with its green slopes. However, once it had a population of over 500 inhabitants in the heyday of mining; industrialization brought electricity, telephone, roads and medical aid station, but also diseases and pollution of land and water.
