Espinos Mine

Mining

Espinos Mine

Turón, Mieres

At the end of the 1920s, after the Santa Bárbara mine shaft was sunk, the company Hulleras de Turón undertook a new shaft sinking in order to improve the processing of other sectors of its facilities in the valley. That is how the Espinos mine shaft was sunk. This mine shaft had a singular extraction structure that has been rightly classified as an extraction tower.

The main difference between the towers and the headframe is that the extraction machine is located on top of the structure itself and not on the ground. In the case of the Espinos mine shaft, the cabin that houses this simple machine is made of wooden boards and glass for the windows. It has a gable roof, and it is held on riveted lattice supports that place it on top of the shaft's wellhead. To access it, there is also a metal staircase whose steps bear the logo of the company.

The Espinos mine shaft is a humble but charming structure that is almost half a century older than the imposing brutalist towers of the coal mining industry. One of these towers is present in the Turón valley, in the San Vicente mine shaft (Figaredo).

Faustino Suárez Antuña

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