Abandoned steel headframe of the Pozo San José coal mine at Olloniego, the main vertical shaft of the Hulleras de Veguín y Olloniego company, closed in 1993 after partial theft of structural members.
The Puzu Olloniego, formally known as the Pozo San José, stands at San Frechoso, Olloniego, in the concejo of Oviedo, Asturias. It is the principal vertical shaft of the Olloniego coalfield, developed to 650 metres depth with ten underground levels by the Sociedad Hulleras de Veguín y Olloniego. Coal extraction in the Olloniego area dates from the mid-nineteenth century, initially under foreign-capital companies including the Anglo-Asturiana, with concessions recorded from the 1840s.
In 1918 the Sociedad Hulleras de Veguín y Olloniego was formed, and this company modernised the operations. Sinking of the San José vertical shaft began around 1951–53 and was completed in 1958. Extraction was concentrated in the shaft from 1968 after integration into HUNOSA, and it produced 4.5 million tonnes of coal before its first closure.
HUNOSA reactivated the shaft in 1982 and operated it until definitive closure on 11 January 1993. The steel headframe, winding house, and medical facilities survive, though in poor condition. The headframe suffered partial theft of one of its structural members, which was subsequently replaced.
A second shaft — the Pozo San José nº 2 — was driven to 650 metres but never produced coal and its works were abandoned incomplete.
Coal extraction in Olloniego, in the former Tudela concejo (absorbed by Oviedo in 1857), is documented from the 1840s. Mining concessions including Sola, Dos Amigos, Corza, and Coto Tudela were registered in the valley between 1855 and 1867. The Anglo-Asturiana company is known to have operated in the area, and another company, La Espada, registered mines from 1842 onwards and constructed a small coking furnace.
At the beginning of the twentieth century the Compagnie Générale Minière, based in Paris, held the concessions in the area, which then passed to Hulleras de Veguín. On 18 May 1918 the Sociedad Hulleras de Veguín y Olloniego was constituted, uniting the Veguín coal interests with the Olloniego operations. The new company modernised the workings in the Sierra de Fayedo on the left bank of the Nalón, constructing inclined planes and building a modern coal washery at La Servanda.
The company also operated a narrow-gauge railway of 600 mm gauge to supply the Tudela Veguín cement factory. From around 1951–53, the company began sinking the vertical shaft San José in the valley of San Frechoso. The shaft was inaugurated in 1958, reaching 650 metres depth with ten underground working levels.
It was connected to the coal washing plant at La Servanda. Extraction layers exploited were numbers 5, 6, 10, 17, and 18, and the ore body was worked over a corrida of 2,500 metres. The Mina Vicentina, operated until 1966 when it became the first mining cooperative in Spain when its 80 workers were granted the working and a production of around 2,000 tonnes per month — passed to concentrate production at the Pozo San José from 1968.
The Sociedad Hulleras de Veguín y Olloniego passed into HUNOSA on 1 July 1968. Under HUNOSA the San José shaft became the sole extraction point for the Olloniego coalfield. All extraction was concentrated in the shaft from November 1968.
The shaft operated under HUNOSA until 1 August 1972, when it was closed for the first time. Total production from the start of operations to this first closure was 4.5 million tonnes. The works on a second shaft — the Pozo San José nº 2, or Pozo Sanfrechoso — had been begun by the former owners and continued by HUNOSA, investing a total of 138,017,000 pesetas, including 97,486,000 before integration and 40,531,000 by HUNOSA.
This shaft was driven to 650 metres depth with 10 levels and toll storage facilities were constructed, but the entire project was abandoned without the shaft ever producing a single tonne of coal. HUNOSA reactivated the principal Pozo San José in 1982 and operated it until definitive closure on 11 January 1993. The headframe and associated installations remain standing at San Frechoso, including the winding house and medical facilities, though all in poor condition.
One of the structural members (a double-T support section) of the headframe was cut and stolen by scrap thieves — an incident reported in the press around 2012 — but was subsequently replaced. The site remains unoccupied and access is not managed.