THE SULPHUR MINER - For almost 200 years the mines of sulphur have deeply marked - in the good and in the evil - the economy, the history, the culture of that part of Sicily note as highland chalky-solfifero, inclusive in the provincies of Caltanissetta, Agrigento, Enna. The many communes in whose territories were unwound extractive activity tied own destinies to the zolfara, and in radical way.
Transformed by farmer in a miner - and laboriously adapting himself to a narrow world and without light this man had looked for his own ransom in the viscus of the earth, where nevertheless the conditions of
Job were extremely inhuman. It was a hard job that of the miner that, every morning sank his own life to different hundred meters under earth, moving himself among narrow and malodorous burrows, with the death always in trap. The great development of the industry Sicilian extractive was had after 1820. To the epoch they were working well 719 mines that 32.136 people employed, furnishing the 4/5 of the world production of sulphur.The mines of sulphur Sicilians started to meaningless depth and for the searches was not needed, because the layers were easily recognizable and as many easily could get the concession. The development of the mining activity grew when many owners of miner given in lease their mines in exchange for a percentage of product that varied between 15 and 30%. New laws however they also imposed the payment of tributes to the owners, up to when, in 1927, it was promulgated a law that directly established the passage of the ownership of the subsoil to the State, which granted concessions for the opening of extractive activity or permissions for the search of mineral substances. The mines of sulphur Sicilians started to meaningless depth and for the searches was not needed, because the layers were easily recognizable and as many easily could get the concession. The development of the mining activity grew when many owners of miner given in lease their mines in exchange for a percentage of product that varied between 15 and 30%.
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