Former lignite shaft of the Turolense coalfield, now open as a heritage interpretation centre with its preserved 52-metre steel headframe.
Pozo Pilar was the last major vertical extraction shaft sunk in the Turolense lignite coalfield, constructed from October 1968 by Minas y Ferrocarril de Utrillas (M.F.U.) on the territory of the municipality of Escucha, Teruel. Sinking was subcontracted to Obras Subterráneas, S.A., and the shaft reached a final depth of approximately 368 metres with two working levels, at roughly 162 and 295 metres. Production began in 1976, and the mine reached its period of greatest activity around 1979, employing around 1,600 workers at its peak.
Its output was directed primarily to the adjacent Central Térmica de Escucha, which opened in 1970. A period of decline followed Spain's accession to the European Economic Community in 1986, and the mine closed between 1991 and 1992. Its striking 52-metre steel lattice headframe survives intact and has been adapted as a visitor attraction.
The former surface facilities opened as the Centro Interpretativo Minero Pozo Pilar in 2014.
Pozo Pilar stands on the outskirts of Escucha, in the Cuencas Mineras comarca of the province of Teruel, within the concessions operated by Minas y Ferrocarril de Utrillas, S.A. (M.F.U.), the company which had dominated lignite extraction across the Utrillas and Escucha basins since its foundation in Zaragoza in 1900. By the mid-twentieth century M.F.U. was the principal industrial employer of the region, though its earlier mines — Mina Santiago, Pozo Santa Bárbara, and Mina Sur — were progressively approaching exhaustion. The company identified the need for a concentrated, modern extraction point capable of supplying the Central Térmica de Escucha, a thermal power station built by Unión Térmica, S.A. and inaugurated in 1970. Pozo Pilar was the answer to that need.
Construction of the shaft commenced in October 1968. M.F.U. subcontracted the underground sinking and preparation works to Obras Subterráneas, S.A. Excavation reached a depth of approximately 368 metres, establishing two production levels: the first at around 162 metres and the second at around 295 metres. The target seams were the fourth and sixth recognised coal layers of the concession, described in sources as lying in the central and eastern zones of M.F.U.'s holdings.
The headframe erected over the shaft is a metal tower structure of welded and bolted steel lattice construction, rising to approximately 52 metres and weighing around 350 tonnes. It is formed by four vertical uprights braced by diagonal struts and cross-members, giving it considerable structural rigidity. At the top of the headframe sits the machine room for the skip system, which operated using a Koeppe-type winding pulley of four metres in diameter. The skip cage had a rated capacity of 19 tonnes and operated at a maximum speed of around 10 metres per second, driven by a direct-current electric motor of 1,100 kilowatts. An inclined hopper inside the headframe received coal from the skip and discharged it onto a conveyor belt running to the Central Térmica de Escucha. The underground working faces were protected by hydraulic shields and cutting was performed by shearer or roadheader machines. Contemporary sources described Pozo Pilar as one of the best-equipped and most mechanised lignite mines in Europe at the time of its construction.
Production from Pozo Pilar began in 1976. The mine entered its most productive period during the years following the 1973 oil crisis, which revived demand for domestic coal across Spain. This period, broadly spanning 1973 to the mid-1980s, was known in the Spanish mining industry as the Segunda Edad de Oro de los Carbones. Workforce numbers reached approximately 1,600 at the mine's peak.
Decline set in during the 1980s. Spain's accession to the European Economic Community in 1986 obliged the country to align with the Treaty of the European Coal and Steel Community (CECA) framework, which moved the industry towards open market conditions and allowed the importation of cheaper foreign coal. The high sulphur content of the Teruel lignite made compliance with tightening European emissions standards more costly, requiring investment in desulphurisation. These pressures, combined with the effects of the Plan Energético Nacional of 1984 which imposed production limits, made continued operation increasingly uneconomic. The shift from underground to opencast extraction, which had been gaining ground since 1978, also reduced the need for shaft-based workforces. Pozo Pilar closed between 1991 and 1992 — the last underground mine in the Utrillas basin — and the shaft was sealed definitively in 1992.
Opencast operations in the broader Utrillas area continued until 2002, when all coal extraction in the concession ended and M.F.U. was wound up, donating its archive to the Ayuntamiento de Utrillas.
After closure the headframe and former surface installations at the Escucha site were retained. The Ayuntamiento de Escucha developed the site as a heritage visitor attraction, and the Centro Interpretativo Minero Pozo Pilar opened to the public in 2014. The centre provides guided tours of the former surface buildings, recreated in the context of the 1970s working environment, including the former warehouse, lamp room, laboratory, and the lower levels of the headframe itself. An elevator was subsequently installed inside the headframe to give visitors access to an upper viewing platform. The site functions as a complementary visitor centre to the Museo Minero de Escucha, which occupies a separately preserved underground workings nearby.