Neves-Corvo mine is a

zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

mine 15 km southeast of

Castro Verde Castro Verde () is a town and a municipality of the Alentejo region of Portugal (in the historic district of Beja). The population in 2011 was 7,276, in an area of 569.44 km2. Castro Verde is situated in the Baixo Alentejo subregion, within ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

and 220 km southeast of Lisbon, in the district of Beja (Baixo Alentejo). It has a dedicated rail link to the port of

Setúbal Setúbal (, , ; cel-x-proto, Caetobrix) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population in 2014 was 118,166, occupying an area of . The city itself had 89,303 inhabitants in 2001. It lies within the Lisbon metropolitan area. In the ti ...

. The mine is principally accessed by

shaft mining Shaft mining or shaft sinking is the action of excavating a mine shaft from the top down, where there is initially no access to the bottom. Shallow shafts, typically sunk for civil engineering projects, differ greatly in execution method from ...

and a ramp from surface. It is a main producer of copper and zinc mineral. Nevescorvo

History

The deposit was found in 1977 following the discovery of a gravimetric anomaly part of the geophysical study of the Iberian Pyrite Belt, south Portugal. The exploration of the ore deposits began in 1988 by Somincor. In June 2004, Somincor, which owns the mine, was acquired by EuroZinc from Empresa de Desenvolvimento Mineiro and

Rio Tinto Rio Tinto, meaning "red river", may refer to: Businesses * Rio Tinto (corporation), an Anglo-Australian multinational mining and resources corporation ** Rio Tinto Alcan, based in Canada ** Rio Tinto Borax in America *** Rio Tinto Borax Mine, ...

. In October 2006, EuroZinc was acquired by

Lundin Mining Lundin Mining Corporation is a Canadian company that owns and operates mines in Sweden, United States, Chile, Portugal and Brazil that produce base metals such as copper, zinc, and nickel. Headquartered in Toronto, the company was founded by Adolf ...

. In May 2017, Lundin Mining announced an expansion project for the mine.

References

{{Authority control Iberian Pyritic Belt Buildings and structures in Beja District Zinc mines in Portugal Copper mines in Portugal