1892
La Fraternidad worked the Lieres coalfield
Coal at Lieres was worked by the Sociedad Especial Minera La Fraternidad before the Solvay period.
Site overview
The Minas de Solvay-Lieres were a coal-mining complex at Lieres, in the municipality of Siero, Asturias. Solvay acquired the Lieres mines from the local company La Fraternidad to secure coal for its industrial operations, especially the Torrelavega works. The mine was expanded in the early twentieth century with vertical shaft working, including Pozo nº 1 and later Pozo nº 2, and developed associated power, machine, washing and transport infrastructure.
The complex later passed into the HUNOSA system under the name Pozo Siero. Surviving elements at the site include the headframes of Pozo nº 1 and Pozo nº 2, machine-house structures, a power station, chimney and other industrial remains.
The mine stands on the Cantabrian coast at Arnao, where the headframe and buildings occupy an exposed coastal setting and read as a distinctive historic group.
Map
Map markers and directions links are provided for location reference only and do not indicate public access or permission to enter a site.
No site photograph is currently available. Images will be added as field visits are carried out.
History
The Minas de Solvay-Lieres formed one of the principal coal-mining complexes of the Siero area of Asturias. The undertaking originated before Solvay ownership with the local company La Fraternidad. Solvay acquired the Lieres mines in order to secure a reliable coal supply for its chemical works at Torrelavega, which began operating in 1905. The Lieres operation therefore formed part of a wider industrial supply chain linking Asturian coal extraction with chemical production in Cantabria.
The mine developed from earlier workings into a substantial vertical-shaft complex in the early twentieth century. Published technical and heritage material records the development of Pozo nº 1 in 1915–1916, together with construction of its machine house, boiler house and associated early surface infrastructure. A power station was added in 1920. In the favourable coal-mining conditions of the 1940s and 1950s, Pozo nº 2 was sunk and equipped with a steel headframe and its own machine house. The present headframe of Pozo nº 2 dates from later rebuilding or replacement works carried out in the 1980s.
The site was later integrated into HUNOSA under the name Pozo Siero. Surviving elements recorded in technical and heritage material include the mine entrance, the headframe of Pozo nº 1, the headframe of Pozo nº 2, the machine house of Pozo nº 1, the former machine house of Pozo nº 2, the Aerex fan, the power station, chimney, powder magazine and associated machinery and industrial fittings. The complex is therefore a distinct mining heritage site in its own right, with two separate headframes and a coherent industrial ensemble.
Timeline
1903
Solvay acquired the Lieres mines
Solvay acquired the Lieres mines from La Fraternidad as part of its strategy to secure coal supplies for its Torrelavega chemical works.
1916–1917
Pozo nº 1 developed
Solvay developed a vertical shaft at Lieres in 1916–1917, with associated surface infrastructure including a machine house and boiler house.
1942
Pozo nº 1 headframe renewed
The older Pozo nº 1 headframe was renewed in 1942 using a reinforced-concrete structure regarded as unusual in Asturian mining headframes.
1950
Pozo nº 2 begun
A second shaft, Pozo nº 2, began to be sunk around 1950, parallel to Pozo nº 1, as part of post-war expansion of the Lieres mine.
1994
Mine incorporated into HUNOSA as Pozo Siero
The former Solvay-Lieres mine was incorporated into HUNOSA in 1994 and renamed Pozo Siero.
2001
Pozo Siero closed
Pozo Siero, the former Solvay-Lieres mine, closed in 2001 after approximately seven years within HUNOSA.
2004
Pozo Siero heritage protection advanced
A 2004 heritage resolution described Pozo Siero, the former Minas Solvay de Lieres, as one of the most relevant examples of coal mining in the concejo of Siero.
Sources and records
Patrimonio Industrial Asturias: Solvay Mine; mining engineering dissertation on UPHES potential at Mina de Lieres / Pozo Siero; HUNOSA 2007 historical material cited in the dissertation; Bocamina / Hastial material on Pozo nº 1, Minas de Solvay-Lieres; Álvarez Quintana et al., Solvay-Lieres, conjunto industrial minero, 1903–2003.
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