Minas de Alquife
The Alquife mining site was Europe’s most important early source of iron ore. The earliest recorded traces of mining date back to the tenth and eleventh centuries, during the Umayyad and Taifa periods. During the Nasrid period, Alquife became the primary iron-producing centre in Zenete. During this Islamic period, the mines were located near the castle. Following the Christian conquest in 1485, Guadix remained a significant iron and steel centre, largely thanks to the minerals from Alquife. In the modern era, mining was undercapitalised and owned by the Marquis of Zenete. The mining boom in Zenete occurred at the beginning of the 20th century when new techniques and modern mining machinery were introduced. This enabled the rapid and large-scale extraction of primarily iron, as well as copper and silver.