Minas da Panasqueira Covilhã · Castelo Branco · Portugal

The modern discovery of the Panasqueira deposit began in the late nineteenth century in the heavily forested hills of central Portugal. A charcoal burner known as O Pescão de Casegas found a shiny black stone and brought it to Manuel dos Santos of the parish of Barroca do Zêzere. Dos Santos visited the site, then travelled to Lisbon, where he asked Professor of Mineralogy and engineer Silva Pinto to examine it. Pinto, recognising the abundance of wolframite, purchased both the collected ore and the land from dos Santos. The discovery registration was granted on 15 September 1881 in the name of the firm Almeida Silva Pinto e Comandita. Industrial exploitation began in 1896 when the official mining licence was issued and the Sociedade de Minas de Wolfram em Portugal was founded to exploit the newly appreciated industrial applications of tungsten. All individual concessions across the area were progressively grouped into the single administrative entity known as the Couto Mineiro da Panasqueira, later formalised as the C-18 Mining Concession (16 December 1992), covering an area of 1,913 hectares.

The first underground drifts were opened at the Cabeço do Pião area (known as Rio), situated on the Zêzere River to supply water for processing. In 1904 a new mechanised treatment plant was built at Rio, and by 1904 there is a record of the delivery of 41 tonnes of ore. Mining activity at Rio diminished as richer veins were found at the Panasqueira and Barroca Grande areas. In 1911 the Wolfram Mining and Smelting Company was formed, purchasing all rights to the concessions, buildings, equipment, and 125 hectares of rural land. In 1912 major investments followed: the Rio treatment plant was upgraded and a 5,100-metre aerial rope-tramway was installed, carrying ore from the various Panasqueira mining sites to the Rio plant. By 1912 production of wolframite concentrates reached 267 tonnes at 65% WO3, mined by 244 workers from around 10,791 tonnes of vein material. The outbreak of the First World War in 1914 brought accelerated expansion, increased production rates, enlargement of the plant, and installation of a tin furnace.

From the end of the First World War to 1928, mining activity fluctuated with the price of tungsten. During this period tin production was intensified: in 1927 approximately 110 tonnes of cassiterite concentrate and 190 tonnes of wolframite concentrate were produced. In 1928 the company reorganised and changed its name to Beralt Tin & Wolfram, deriving the name from Beira Alta, the historical province in which the mine lies. The Panasqueira processing plant, which had been built progressively in the nineteenth century, was transferred from 1928 to Barroca Grande, which offered a more central location, greater available area, and better access to water.

A pronounced recovery in wolfram prices from 1934, combined with the strategic demands of the Second World War, produced the years of peak production. Manpower rose from 750 workers in 1933 to 3,300 in 1940 and nearly 5,800 in 1943, supplemented by thousands of artisanal garimpeiros selling ore by the kilogram to the company. The plant at Rio reached a capacity of 300 tonnes per day and the Panasqueira plant 1,000 tonnes per day, with monthly concentrate production of around 300 tonnes — more than the rest of Portugal combined. Underground connections between the Barroca Grande and Panasqueira areas were completed during this period. Portugal's neutrality in the war meant that the mine supplied both Allied and Axis powers with tungsten, earning the mine international notoriety. Tungsten prices fell sharply at the war's end, recovering only partially with the Korean War from 1950, which also prompted modernisation of operations through the introduction of scrapers and mechanical loaders.

In 1970 the ore processing infrastructure at Barroca Grande was further developed with a new lavaria (processing plant). Beralt Tin & Wolfram (Portugal) SA was formally constituted in 1973. In the early 1980s operations were mechanised and the mining method changed to the room-and-pillar system. Processing of ore at the Rio plant continued until September 1996, when the final concentration equipment was moved to Barroca Grande. In 1993 the mine was temporarily closed due to falling tungsten prices and market competition; it reopened in 1995. In 1995 Avocet Mining PLC, a London Stock Exchange-listed company, acquired the entire share capital of Beralt Tin & Wolfram (Portugal) SA. In 1998 a new 90-metre-deep underground shaft connecting Level 2 with Level 3 was completed and a new 284 kW winch was installed, with the automated shaft system fully operational from April 1998. All milling was consolidated at Barroca Grande that year.

In March 2003 Primary Metals Inc. (TSX Venture Exchange) acquired the full Panasqueira concession. In October 2007 the Japanese Sojitz Corporation acquired Primary Metals and the mine operated as Sojitz Beralt Tin and Wolfram Portugal until January 2016, when Canadian Almonty Industries reacquired the mine and restored the Beralt Tin & Wolfram (Portugal) SA name. Almonty operates the mine through this wholly owned subsidiary. From 1934 to 2016, 40 million tonnes of ore were processed, yielding 128,110 tonnes of WO3 concentrate, 6,576 tonnes of tin, and 32,410 tonnes of copper concentrate. Current production from the room-and-pillar mine runs between five levels (Level 0 to Level 4) and yields approximately 85,000–95,000 metric tonne units of WO3 concentrate annually. The mine employs around 250 people drawn mainly from the surrounding villages. A Barroca Grande Mining Museum was established on site to document the mine's history. Panasqueira remains the only active tungsten mine in Portugal.