Surviving shaft structure within the disused Montevecchio lead and zinc mining complex near Guspini, part of the Parco Geominerario Storico e Ambientale della Sardegna.
Pozzo G.T.M. is a shaft structure located in the commune of Guspini in south-western Sardinia, within the extensive lead and zinc mining district of Montevecchio. The Montevecchio mining area straddles the municipal territories of Guspini and Arbus, approximately ten kilometres from the centre of Guspini, and comprises one of the most important mining complexes in Sardinian and Italian industrial history. Lead and zinc extraction at Montevecchio in its modern industrial form began in 1848, when Giovanni Antonio Sanna obtained a concession from King Carlo Alberto of Savoy for the exploitation of galena argentifera and sphalerite ore bodies.
The district grew into one of the leading producers of lead and zinc in Europe, reaching peak employment in the 1940s and 1950s, when some 3,750 workers were engaged across the combined operations. The mine was managed successively by the Sanna family, the Montecatini company from 1933, and subsequently by state-controlled entities through Sogersa and related bodies from 1971. All mining activity ceased in 1991.
The Montevecchio mining area is listed within the Parco Geominerario Storico e Ambientale della Sardegna and is part of the UNESCO Global Geoparks Network. Specific documentation for the Pozzo G.T.M. designation has not been identified in the consulted sources, though the shaft lies within the documented Guspini sector of the Montevecchio mining district.
The lead and zinc ore deposits of Montevecchio in south-western Sardinia were exploited in antiquity, with archaeological evidence indicating Roman-period and earlier activity. The site is situated at the boundary of the municipal territories of Guspini and Arbus in what was the Province of Medio Campidano. Documentary evidence of early modern mining activity begins in 1628 with an edict conceding the Sardinian mines to Giacomo Esquirro.
In the early eighteenth century, the deposit was briefly exploited by Carlo Mandel, then consul of Sweden at Cagliari, and by other small concessionaires, before being abandoned for approximately fifty years. Modern industrial extraction commenced on 28 April 1848, when King Carlo Alberto of Savoy signed a perpetual concession in favour of the Sardinian entrepreneur Giovanni Antonio Sanna, who founded the Società per la coltivazione della miniera di piombo argentifero di Montevecchio. Working concentrated initially on the Pozzo Sant'Antonio (originally named San Giovanni) cantiere and the Sciria station.
By 1865 Montevecchio had become the leading producer of blenda (sphalerite) and galena in the Kingdom of Italy, employing approximately 1,100 workers. The mining area came to be divided into an eastern sector, the cantieri di Levante, and a western sector, the cantieri di Ponente, separated by the Genna Serapis pass. In 1874 and 1876 the adjacent Sciria and Piccalinna concessions were granted by royal decree to the Société La Nouvelle Arborese; they were reintegrated into the Montevecchio concession ten years later.
In 1900 the Società Montevecchio was represented at the Paris Universal Exposition as one of the leading producers of lead and zinc. Late in the nineteenth century the mine adopted modern wet-drilling techniques, compressed-air equipment, electrical infrastructure, hoisting lifts, and improved pumping. The management building on the Genna Serapis hill was designed and constructed by Giovanni Antonio Sanna between 1870 and 1877 to house both the company offices and the owner's residence.
Following the international financial crisis of 1929, the Società Montevecchio entered severe difficulties and by 1933 was compelled to divide its operations: the Montecatini company acquired the mining concessions while the Monteponi company took the metallurgical activities. In 1939 the combined operation was restructured as Montevecchio S.I.P.Z. (Società Italiana del Piombo e dello Zinco), which reached its peak productivity in the wartime and immediate post-war years. In 1941 the Pozzo Sartori — an imposing reinforced concrete shaft tower 32 metres high, begun in 1938 under the original name Pozzo Impero — was completed and subsequently renamed in honour of the engineer Francesco Sartori, who had directed the Monteponi company from 1935 to 1941.
In 1961 the company merged with Monteponi to form Monteponi e Montevecchio S.p.A. In 1965 the concessions at Gennamari, Crabulassu, and Ingurtosu were acquired. In 1966 the Montecatini–Edison merger created Montedison, beginning the decline of the mining and metallurgical sector. From 1971 the mine was managed by the state-controlled Sogersa (Società Statale e Regionale di Gestione delle Risorse Minerarie Sarde).
Individual cantieri closed progressively through the 1970s and 1980s; the Piccalinna sector ceased operations in 1981, and the Pozzo Sartori sector in 1989–90. Extraction at Pozzo Sant'Antonio ceased in 1988. A 27-day worker occupation of Pozzo Amsicora preceded the final closure of Montevecchio on 17 May 1991.
From 1996 the Montevecchio area was incorporated within the Parco Geominerario Storico e Ambientale della Sardegna. The site is accessible through multiple guided tour circuits covering the management building, the Sant'Antonio shaft and workers' housing, the Piccalinna shaft and compressor rooms, the Officine workshops, and an underground gallery section (Galleria Anglosarda). The name Pozzo G.T.M., specific to mine_id 727, does not appear in the principal consulted sources relating to the Montevecchio district; the shaft is located within the documented Guspini sector of the mining area.