Valenciana Mine

[5] Currently, it belongs to the Santa Fe Cooperative Society of Metallurgical Mines of Guanajuato and continues to be exploited at a depth of 760 meters.

[6] In 1760, the young Antonio de Obregón y Alcocer obtained a loan from the merchant of the Rayas mine, Pedro Luciano Otero.

[8] On 20 March 1780, the King Charles III of Spain – at the request of the Viceroy Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa – granted Obregón the titles of Viscount de la Mina and count of La Valenciana, located in Guanajuato, Mexico.

Shortly after, they formed the Valencia regiment that was under the orders Colonel Casimiro Chovell and mine engineer Ramón Fabié.

In 1872, he formed the Restorative Company of Valenciana and in 1877 La Concordia to work the mines of Mellado and Rayas.

By 1878, La Valenciana was able to produce again the largest volume of silver in Guanajuato, achieving a total of 15,000 tons in 1887.

In 1900 the production of La Valenciana was reduced by half and continued to lower its extraction volumes during the following three years.

Due to these labor problems and the decrease in productivity, finally, the mine passed into the hands of the workers of section 4 of the National Union of Mining, Metallurgical and Similar Workers of the Mexican Republic, who formed the Cooperativa Minera Metalúrgica Santa Fe de Guanajuato.

The work was directed by the architects Andrés de la Riva and Jorge Archundia, from quarry rose and his style is churrigueresque.

The mouth of the mine is known as Bocamina and is located in the town of Valenciana, directly behind the outside wall of the local church, San Cayetano.