The region of Los Pedroches holds extraordinary mining heritage linked to its unique geology. As early as Roman times, the richest silver-bearing veins were intensively exploited, such as those of Minas Viejas in Santa Eufemia, La Solana in Belalcázar and the famous El Soldado group, one of the most important lead deposits in Spain.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, mining experienced a new boom. The El Soldado mining complex, located about three kilometres south of Villanueva del Duque, was the most important lead complex in the province of Córdoba and one of Spain’s major mining centres. Its rich veins of silver-bearing galena, known since ancient times and intensively exploited from the 19th century onwards, made it a strategic site in the national mining landscape.
Exploitation reached its greatest development under the management of the Peñarroya Mining and Metallurgical Company, which promoted modern extraction and transport infrastructures. Around the shafts, headframes, workshops and warehouses, a true industrial landscape took shape, deeply transforming the territory and the lives of its inhabitants.
To transport the ore, the company promoted the arrival of the narrow-gauge railway: in 1906 it reached Pozoblanco and later Villanueva de Córdoba and Conquista, eventually connecting with Puertollano and Madrid. The railway broke the region’s historic isolation, encouraged trade and brought progress.
After the mines closed in 1933 and the subsequent decline, the line ceased operating in 1970. Today, part of its route has been recovered as a greenway, inviting visitors to explore the mining memory of Los Pedroches on foot or by bicycle.
