Livro EDM

152 The Legacy of Abandoned Mines
As beneficiações que foram sendo introduzidas nesta unidade, designada por Oficina de Tratamento Químico (OTQ), permitiram que muitas das
construções e equipamentos ainda existam no presente. Refira-se que durante a sua laboração foram produzidas 4.370 toneladas de óxido de urânio
das quais cerca de um quarto proveniente da própria mina da Urgeiriça.
O compromisso entre a manutenção dos equipamentos e edifícios, designadamente na zona de recepção dos minérios, nos primeiros e segundos
estágios de britagem e nos passadores, fase em que se produzia a lavagem e separação sólido/líquido, e a imperiosa necessidade de controlar a radiação
externa e gás radão emanado dos resíduos nelas contidos, conduziu a soluções de limpeza, recuperação e adaptação de muitas das estruturas
nelas integradas, podendo ser desfrutadas pelos futuros utentes do espaço de lazer em que se vem transformando aquela antiga área industrial.
Ainda assim, outros equipamentos há, como os tanques de lixiviação, que carecem de beneficiação, e que podem vir a ser integrados numa unidade
representativa da arqueologia industrial associada à exploração de urânio em Portugal.
2
1 Espessador da OTQ
após recuperação.
2 Homenagem ao
mineiro, em Valinhos –
Urgeiriça.
1
1 Uranium Processing
Plant thickener after
recovery.
2 Monument honouring
the miner in Valinhos -
Urgeiriça.
URGEIRIÇA (heritage conservation)
Mining operations in Urgeiriça go back
to 1912, continued until 1945 with the
exploit of Radium and from then on
the target was Uranium. Urgeiriça was
considered one of the most important
radioactive ore-bodies in Europe.
The operation, carried out in galleries
comprised, from the seventies
of last century onward, on site
bleaching, from former quarrying
operations, a methodology that
continued being used until the beginning
of the nineties.
In Urgeiriça, however, the first
industrial facility was set up for
processing uranium, not just from
its own production, but also from
the greater part of other mining
areas in the Beira provinces where
uranium ore was produced.
The improvements that were meanwhile
introduced in this unit, known
as Uranium Processing Plant, resulted
in many of the buildings
and plant still existing today. It is
interesting to know that, during
its existence, the facility produced
4,370 tonnes of uranium oxide;
approximately one quarter of this
resulted from mining operations in
Urgeiriça itself.
A compromise between the maintenance
of plant and buildings,
specifically in the area of reception
of the ore, in the first and second
stages of crushing and conveyance,
the stage where mineral washing
and solid/liquid separation took
place, and the imperative need to
control external radiation and radon
gas issued from the residues, led to
cleansing solutions and to the recovery
and adapting of many of the
structures comprised, and could thus
be enjoyed by the future users of the
leisure area in which that former
mining area is being transformed:
Even so, other plant still remains,
such as the bleaching vats, which
require improvement, and could become
part of a representative unit of
industrial archaeology associated to
the exploit of uranium in Portugal.
Tanques de lixiviação
do urânio - OTQ –
Urgeiriça.
Uranium Processing Plant
– Urgeiriça.