Morro da Mina

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Morro da Mina
Morro da Mina, photo from Revista Kósmos, 1907 Central part of the quarry with 3 mining levels, 1907
Morro da Mina, photo from Revista Kósmos , 1907

José Veríssimo - Quatro dias em Minas Gerais - Parte central da jazida, mostrando os três planos de ataque (Revista Kósmos, Nov. 1907, N ° 11) .jpg

Central part of the quarry with 3 mining levels, 1907
Route of the Morro da Mina
Morro da Mina northeast of Conselheiro Lafaiete , 2019
Gauge : 600 mm ( narrow gauge )

The Morro da Mina is a 1894 put into use manganese ore - mine in Conselheiro Lafaiete , former Queluz de Minas in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais .

history

In 1907 the mine employed about 150 workers , both local and Italian. The quarry worked on several tiered mining levels. The ore from all mining levels consisted of an average of 50% metallic manganese.

The mine is still in operation today (2019) . It is exploited by the company Rio Doce Manganês , which belongs to VALE , but today only for the domestic market.

location

The highest point of the mine was in 1907 at 1114 meters above sea level, with the iron ore-containing contour line of the deposit an average height of 1050 meters above sea level. d. M. exhibited.

Minerals


The manganese ore contained metallic, shiny, diverging layers of pyrolusite up to 3.7 cm thick. The example on the left of classic, very rich, older material from the Morro da Mina comes from the Dennis Mullane collection.

More recently, the mine has become known through the discovery of rhodonite , a high-quality, cherry-red semi-precious stone. The rhodonite piece shown on the right consists of several intergrown crystals with a sharp geometric shape. It is flawless on all front and side surfaces, has light contact on the back, and lies flat on a base termination that is lightly contacted and not broken. A find this color and shape would be worth tens of thousands of dollars if it came from old finds in Broken Hills . Today rhodonite is available in this quality at comparatively affordable prices from a newer find.

Decauville Railway

José Veríssimo - Quatro dias em Minas Gerais - Segundo plano de ataque da mina (Revista Kósmos, Nov. 1907, N ° 11) .jpg
Decauville Railway on the second working level, 1907
José Veríssimo - Quatro dias em Minas Gerais - Galeria de passagem para vagonetes no Morro da Mina (Revista Kósmos, Nov. 1907, N ° 11) .jpg
Morro da Mina railway tunnel , 1907
José Veríssimo - Quatro dias em Minas Gerais - Carregamento de minério (Revista Kósmos, Nov. 1907, N ° 11) .jpg
Ore loading onto the standard-gauge railway, 1907


The mine operation around 1907 a Decauville - works railway with a track width of 600 mm.

The upper mining levels were developed with the hand-operated Decauville railway and the lowest with standard gauge trains of the Estrada de Ferro Central do Brasil .

At the loading and unloading points, the standard-gauge wagons could be loaded with approx. 40 t in 6 to 8 minutes. The transport was so well organized that 1000 tons of ore could be loaded every day.

Web links

Commons : Minerals of the Morro da Mina Mine  - Collection of images
Commons : Morro da Mina mine  - collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b José Veríssimo : Quatro dias em Minas Gerais. In: Revista Kósmos , November 1907, Volume IV, No. 11.
  2. ↑ Caracterização Geotecnica da Mina de Morro da Mina.

Coordinates: 20 ° 38 ′ 6.4 ″  S , 43 ° 46 ′ 13.8 ″  W.