Parque Minero de La Unión

Useful Information

Location:	La Unión. (37.615370, -0.873179)
Open:	Currently closed due to reorganization. Mining Museum: All year Mon-Fri 9-13:30. Mining Museum: free. [2022]
Fee:	Currently closed due to reorganization. [2022]
Classification:	Lead Mine Silver Mine
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:
Guided tours:
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address:	Parque Minero de La Unión. Mining Museum, Museo Minero, C. Mayor, 55, 30360 La Unión, Murcia.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

Geology

Description

The Parque Minero de La Unión is not a single site, its a peninsua with numnerous sites. The hills south of the city La Unión is full of ores and abandoned mines. The site we give the coordinates for is actually a parking lot with a wooden hut which contains a sort of mine park related toruist office. It is the logical starting point for any visit to the mines, they offer current info on accessibility, maps and booklets with explanations. If you follow the road uphill you will reach the Mirador Parque Minero de La Unión, and outlook where you can see all the mines of the area.

Currently the park is closed, as they say it is provisionally closed due to reforms. We have no idea what kind of reforms, probably its just an euphemism for lack of visitor, Conid-19, or lack of funding. Nevertheless, this does not influence the mine sites and technical monuments at all. There are educational signs which will not vanish because the tourist office is closed. Its just difficult to get a good map. We suggest you download and print the info from their website, which still works, and have fun exploring an important European industrial heritage.

The highlight of the park is probably Agrupa Vicenta Mine, which is a huge underground space of more than 4,000 m², which probably makes it one of the largest show mines of Europe. There is no official statistic though, and actually salt mines are far, far spacier, so lets say the biggest metal ore show mine. It has enormous galleries with 8 m high vaults, and an underground lake of reddish waters. The mine is used as an event location, for flamenco shows and concerts.

The Museo Minero (Mining Museum) is temporarily located in the Casa del Piñón, the home of the La Unión City Council. It has extensive exhibitions on the local mining history. Unfortunately it is currently only in Spanish.