Surviving restored steel headframe of a former Asturian coal shaft, listed in the Inventario del Patrimonio Cultural de Asturias, standing in the Sama de Langreo urban area.
Pozo Modesta, located in Sama de Langreo in the Nalón valley coalfield of Asturias, developed from a small coal working known as La Perezosa, operating since the last quarter of the nineteenth century. The site passed through the hands of Herrero Hermanos before its integration into Sociedad Metalúrgica Duro Felguera in 1902. Under Duro Felguera, Modesta grew into a significant extraction and coal-preparation centre, serving a large part of the Grupo Sama output — over 130,000 tonnes in 1923.
A mine opening was established in 1911 and the washing plant was progressively developed. A vertical shaft was sunk from 1957, reaching more than 200 metres depth, and a large modern engine house was built to the design of architect Julio Galán. The site passed to HUNOSA in 1967 and became the location of a major central washing plant for the company's Nalón-area operations.
The shaft ceased extraction in 1975. A fire in 2007 destroyed the extraction conveyor system, and demolition of most of the buildings followed from 2009. The steel headframe, built around 1930 by Duro Felguera and restored by architect Miguel García-Pola between 2017 and 2018, survives and is listed in the Inventario del Patrimonio Cultural de Asturias.
The site known today as Pozo Modesta, in Sama de Langreo, has its origins in a small coal mine called La Perezosa, which was operating from at least the last quarter of the nineteenth century. The earliest significant development of the site came in the hands of the company Herrero Hermanos, which connected the workings with its other exploitations in Langreo and the San Martín valley. When Herrero Hermanos was absorbed into Sociedad Metalúrgica Duro Felguera in 1902, Modesta became part of a substantial industrial complex centred on Sama.
The site's position alongside the Compañía del Norte railway line and its proximity to the La Nalona mine — which Duro Felguera was simultaneously developing as the Pozo Fondón — made it strategically valuable both for extraction and for coal preparation. Modesta grew rapidly as a washing centre, handling the output of a large part of the Grupo Sama network. Production figures for 1923 record more than 130,000 tonnes washed at Modesta, a volume described in sources as considerably higher than most medium-sized companies and individual shafts of the period.
New infrastructure was added progressively. A mine opening for access was established in 1911, accompanied by a laboratory, a compressor room, and a ventilation installation, housed in masonry buildings in a style similar to those being erected at El Fondón during the same period. The washing plant was refurbished in 1909 with a new water supply, and in 1910 a tunnel was constructed to connect Modesta with La Nalona, enabling the transport of coal by internal rail link between the two sites.
The vertical shaft itself was not sunk until 1957. Sources indicate that sinking began around 1942 under Duro Felguera, with the shaft reaching a depth of more than 200 metres and accessing at least three working levels. The shaft was completed and the definitive vertical extraction system brought into operation during the late 1950s, at which point a new engine house was built to the design of the architect Julio Galán. The steel headframe standing today was constructed around 1930 by Duro Felguera; originally assembled using riveted connections, the rivets were subsequently replaced by welding and the diagonal bracing was reinforced. The headframe is a welded steel structure 37 metres in height to the pulley axis, with lattice diagonal struts.
In 1967 the mining assets of Sociedad Metalúrgica Duro Felguera were incorporated into Hulleras del Norte, S.A. (HUNOSA), the state coal company. Under HUNOSA, Modesta was transformed into the principal central washing plant for the company's Nalón-area operations. A complex new underground infrastructure was constructed, including new galleries, internal deposit shafts, and kilometres of conveyor belts carrying coal from the San Martín and Langreo mine shafts to the modernised washing plant at Modesta. In this new configuration the vertical extraction shaft ceased its own production activity in 1975, though the washing plant continued to operate.
HUNOSA maintained the pumping of the shaft until 1985, when an engineered system using communicating vessels was installed to extract water overflow via the Plano Nalón without compromising the washing plant buildings. The shaft was subsequently flooded definitively.
On 13 April 2007 a violent fire broke out in the conveyor gallery connecting Modesta with the Pozo María Luisa. The fire destroyed the entire extraction conveyor system serving the Nalón-area shafts — including Sotón, María Luisa, and Samuño — and HUNOSA decided not to reopen the inclined plane system. The washing plant closed definitively as a result. Demolition of the majority of the buildings began in 2009. The site was cleared over subsequent years for redevelopment as an industrial polygon.
The steel headframe was retained throughout this process. It is listed in the Catálogo Urbanístico del Plan Territorial Especial de los Terrenos de Hunosa, in the Catálogo Urbanístico del Concejo de Langreo with integral protection status, and since 2013 in the Inventario del Patrimonio Cultural de Asturias. Between November 2017 and August 2018 the headframe was restored by the architect Miguel García-Pola. A small number of early twentieth-century buildings associated with the original Duro Felguera development also survive alongside it.