Chapter One The Sierra Almagrera
We start by looking at the geography and geology of the Sierra Almagrera, and its position within the Baetic Cordillera system. The story continues with the re-discovery of the argentiferous galena or silver-bearing lead which the Phoenicians and Romans had known about, but somehow its presence had been forgotten.
A coloured print from 1893 illustrating the inside a single vein in the mountain, shows us its riches, galena, zinc sulphide, copper sulphide, pyrites, haematite, barite and the "moon rock" jarosite to name just some of them. So many minerals there for the taking, but what were they used for? The answer to this, and many other questions, is here in Chapter 1.