Concessões Mineiras Históricas de Portugal (1836-1962); análise espácio-temporal

Abstract

Major historical events have a great preponderance on the demand of raw materials and the Second Industrial Revolution, in the 18th century, is no exception, resulted in an increase of exploitation of mineral resources in western countries, namely in Portugal. This work perform a space-time analysis of mining concessions granted in Continental Portugal between 1836 and 1962. Tin and tungsten are the elements with the highest number of mining concessions, followed by a set of base metals (Fe, Cu and Pb) and other metals (e.g. Au and Ag), but also non-metallic substances such as coal. The Central Iberian and Galiza-Trás-os-Montes Zones are the geotectonic domains with the highest number of concessions. The decades after the World Wars (i.e. 1920 and 1950) have the highest number of explorations granted.