Nova vida para o Pejão Velho

Summary of the project

The developed project is part of the preservation of heritage associated with the early days of coal mining (anthracite) in Portugal and, on the other hand, it contextualizes and alerts to the emission of greenhouse gases resulting from the use of fossil fuels (anthracite). It is also a concern to warn about the accumulation of hazardous wastes in old mining sites.
The project is developed between Pejão Velho and Fojo, in the municipality of Castelo de Paiva, where the first anthracite explorations took place in the 20s and 30s of the last century, in what later came to be the public company “Empresa Carbonífera do Douro “- ECD.
In this context, ADEP (Associação de Estudo e Defesa do Património de Castelo de Paiva) proposes to develop a proximity work, and alerts to the prejudices of positions that are not in line with heritage preservation, and therefore will promote the collection of waste deposited in locations associated with the first mining sites.
After identification of the different mining associated sites, panels of historical (mining industry), geological and environmental contextualization will be put in place. Subsequently, the identification of all the places of interest between Pejão Velho and Fojo, a pedestrian path (PR) (organized and implemented in the field with inherent signalling). The respective leaflet and requested officialization by the competent entities will be issued. In a location still to be designated, in the PR, small samples of fossils from the Pejão (Carboniferous), to which information is associated, will be placed. After the organization and constitution the pedestrian path, it will be inaugurated by the population in general, associations and local schools as well as other entities.
The pedestrian path’s opening is the culmination of the project development.

Beneficiaries

• 50 local population
• 250 young students from Couto Mineiro
• 1.000 visitors / tourists

Overall achievements

The project aimed to promote the preservation of heritage associated with the beginnings of coal mining in Portugal and to alert about greenhouse gases emission resulting from the use of fossil fuels through the accumulation of garbage and hazardous waste in places of old mining exploitation. The action promoted the requalification of old mines between Fojo and Pejão Velho and the creation of a walking trail. Activities of cleaning, historical searching, creation and application of informative and guiding panels in the field and certification of the path were performed. The route was promoted via web and by local authorities to raising awareness about climate protection and heritage preservation. More than 17.000 people were reached, mostly online.