Crayon1 (@Crayon1)

The mines of Montebras are located next to the village of the same name in the commune of Soumans, in the department of Creuse, in France. The area, very rich in minerals, has been exploited from Antiquity to the present day. During Antiquity, first the Celts and then the Romans exploited tin mines. The discovery of tinning is attributed to the Bituriges Gauls, who lived in the region. In 1858, the deposit was rediscovered by mining engineer François Ernest Mallard. This discovery revived the exploitation of tin. The "Société des mines d'étain de Montebras" ("Montebras Tin Mining Company") was created in April 1867 by Henri Poisson. Mining, carried out from 1865 to 1877, resumed around 1891 and again in 1908, spread between 1868 and 1942. 300 tonnes of tin were produced during this period. The Montebras site still contains a small reserve of tin estimated at 1,000 tonnes. The vein system, in which tin occurs, constitutes an irregular and heterogeneous network of about fifty veins embedded, either in the porphyroid granulite or especially, in its vicinity, in the pinite granite. Its importance was exaggerated when the mine opened, according to geologists. In the twentieth century, amblygonite and montebrasite were exploited to extract lithine, also known as lithium hydroxide. Montebrasite takes its name from the Montebras mine. Since 1965, the site is again open for the extraction of feldspar. It is no longer a question of underground mines but of an open-pit quarry forming a huge crater of pure white. The "Société des feldspath du Morvan" ("Morvan Feldspath Company"), which operates the site, exports the production to Italy where it is used in the ceramics industry. The "Felspath du Morvan" company ceased its activity at the end of 1975. The site is currently operated by the company Imerys Ceramics France, a subsidiary of the Imerys group.