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Description
These are the remains of the mine of Peña del Hierro, part of the Riotinto's mines, in Huelva, Spain.

This mine is less well known than Riotinto but with much higher metal standards. It took its name from the mineralised iron peak that crowns the open cast mine.

Although this mine dates from Roman times it only began to be profitable at the beginning of the nineteen century.

Peña de Hierro in common with other mines in the area is situated in a geological region called the Iberian Pyrite Belt, which is 300 million years old and of volcanic sedimentary origin. This is why the land contains such a high rate of metals and sulphates.

The name of the river, riotinto comes from the spanish words rio - river, and tinto - red wine, because of the red colour of its water. Originally it was thought that its colour was because of the contamination of the mining activities, but later it was discovered that the origin of the river was completely natural. It was also thought that due to its extremely acid waters, riotinto was a dead river, but in late 80's some scientists discovered the presence of extremophile aerobic bacteria that dwell in the water.

Currently the NASA is making some experiments as they consider that the nature of the rocks, might be similar to those found in Mars,.

Description
These are the remains of the mine of Peña del Hierro, part of the Riotinto's mines, in Huelva, Spain.

This mine is less well known than Riotinto but with much higher metal standards. It took its name from the mineralised iron peak that crowns the open cast mine.

Although this mine dates from Roman times it only began to be profitable at the beginning of the nineteen century.

Peña de Hierro in common with other mines in the area is situated in a geological region called the Iberian Pyrite Belt, which is 300 million years old and of volcanic sedimentary origin. This is why the land contains such a high rate of metals and sulphates.

The name of the river, riotinto comes from the spanish words rio - river, and tinto - red wine, because of the red colour of its water. Originally it was thought that its colour was because of the contamination of the mining activities, but later it was discovered that the origin of the river was completely natural. It was also thought that due to its extremely acid waters, riotinto was a dead river, but in late 80's some scientists discovered the presence of extremophile aerobic bacteria that dwell in the water.

Currently the NASA is making some experiments as they consider that the nature of the rocks, might be similar to those found in Mars,.