Gongo Soco was a gold mine in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, to the east of Belo Horizonte in the mid-19th century.

The land was later inherited by João Baptista Ferreira de Souza Coutinho, Baron of Catas Altas.

[5] The hospital building was carefully planned, with central corridors, large rooms with two windows each and up to eight beds, and a sophisticated ventilation system to avoid humidity in the basement.

[3] A steam engine above the mine shaft turned a double wheel that drove a long chain to haul up containers of ore and lower down logs.

Loads of gravel extracted from the side galleries using drills and sledgehammers were hoisted by a simple winch and transported by wagon to a grinding mill.

[6] The deposits at Gongo Soco were in weak rock formations, so large tree trunks from a forest 6 miles (9.7 km) away were needed to prop up the gallery ceilings.

[7] The mine had nine grinding mills, each with 12–24 wooden hammers with iron heads weighing 150 to 200 kilograms (330 to 440 lb).

Under him there were four captains, eight officers and eighty British miners who were assisted by 650 slaves owned by the Imperial Brazilian Mining Association.

They were on 3–5 year contracts, so there was constant contact with Cornish mining communities such as Gwennap and Redruth through miners travelling to and from Brazil.

[10] Hasenclever said a "black inspector" (Negerinspektor) was responsible for the slaves, including their food, clothing, housing and discipline.

[3] The Casa Grande housed the director and first commissioner, and their families, and also held the mine's administrative and accounting offices.

It included the Cemitério dos Ingleses, where the British workers were buried, and where ten tombstones have been found with English inscriptions.

[1] It has been conjectured that the house of the Baron of Catas Altas covered 1,000 square metres (11,000 sq ft), assuming it was one story high.

[1] Gongo Soco was abandoned until it was acquired in 1986 by Mineração Socoimex, which maintained the remains of the former gold mine.

[3] On 11 May 2000 CVRD (Vale) acquired full control of Socoimex, which was extracting and selling iron ore from the Gongo Sôco Mine.

[13] In 2011 Vale said it could extend operations at the mine for a few more years, but was preparing to complete the project, with the transfer of 350 employees to other units.

[14] In April 2016 it was announced that Vale was closing the Gongo Soco mine at the end of the month and laying off 90 employees.