There is a marble quarry in the Italian Alps that has been working since 1387, but in 639 years it has had only one customer...
The quarry is at Candoglia, at the mouth of the Ossola valley. On 24 October 1387, Gian Galeazzo Visconti decided that the cathedral going up in his city should be built of marble rather than brick, and handed the quarry over to the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo, the body established to build it. He also granted the stone free passage down the waterways to Milan.
The blocks went by raft from the river Toce into Lake Maggiore, down the Ticino, along the Naviglio Grande, then through a system of locks into a small lake in the centre of the city, a few hundred metres from the site.
The bargemen carried the letters AUF, for "ad usum fabricae", for the use of the works, which cleared the cargo through customs without charge. People in Lombardy still say "a ufo" for something got for nothing, and the phrase is traditionally traced back to those barges...
Mark Twain came in 1867 and noticed something most visitors walk past: "We saw a new statue put in its niche yesterday alongside of one which had been standing these four hundred years."
It has never stopped: around a thousand tonnes of Candoglia marble still comes out of the mountain every year, and all of it goes to the same building. In a workshop in the Certosa district, sculptors cut replacements for whatever the weather has eaten away, from the same stone, for the same institution, founded in 1387.
The cathedral was declared finished in 1965 but the quarry never stopped, because a cathedral like this is not something you complete... it is inherited, kept, and handed on. As John Ruskin wrote in The Seven Lamps of Architecture:
"When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight, nor for present use alone; let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for; and let us think, as we lay stone on stone, that a time is to come when those stones will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say, as they look upon the labour and wrought substance of them: ‘See! This our fathers did for us.’"
"Generally speaking, all the forecasting houses are foreseeing significant copper shortages to 2035 to 2050. Such, if you just look at 2035, it's as if the five biggest copper mines in the world would be switched off. That obviously creates a very interesting price scenario for copper.
I would say there's certain sensitivity in terms of on the demand side to price, but there's certainly none on the supply side because bringing on a new mine takes 15, 20, in some cases, 60 years."
— Michael Meding Managing Director, McEwen Copper $MUX
5 laws of the universe that are surprisingly accurate:
1. Murphy’s Law
Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.
2. Kidlin’s Law
If you can write a problem down clearly, you’re already halfway to solving it.
3. Falkland’s Law
When there’s no need to make a decision, don’t force one.
4. Wilson’s Law
Prioritize learning and knowledge, and money will eventually follow.
5. Gilbert’s Law
It’s your responsibility to find the best way to achieve the result you want.
📢 INFO de Seguridad | La dirección del Plan de Emergencia ante el Riesgo de Inundaciones encargó ayer a @UMEgob un análisis y peritaje de la situación de las balsas de contención de residuos mineros.
✅El trabajo realizado ha aportado total TRANQUILIDAD ya que NO se ha detectado incidencia alguna ni riesgo probable.
En la 📸, intervención en la mina de #Aznacóllar
#AndalucíaPreviene #BorrascaLeonardo #RíoAtmosférico
Hay que insistir en que la zona de la provincia donde se espera más lluvia es en la sierra donde puede haber registros entre 50 y 100 mm.
En el litoral y zonas próximas va a llover mucho menos y será un día normal de lluvia. Incluso habrá ratos en los que no llueva nada sobre todo por la tarde.
Recordad que sólo tenemos avisos amarillos (riesgo bajo).
En otros puntos de Andalucía como en Cádiz y Málaga si puede haber incidencias importantes.
⭐ Os deseamos una Feliz Navidad y un Año Nuevo cargado de ilusión y nuevos proyectos compartidos.
En 2026, renovamos nuestro compromiso con una Minería con propósito, para seguir impulsando su crecimiento de la mano de las empresas del sector.
🎄 ¡Felices fiestas!
La memoria socioeconómica de Aminer evidencia el impacto de la Minería:
📊 Las empresas asociadas generaron 1.100 millones de euros de Valor Añadido Bruto en 2024. Por cada euro facturado se generó otro adicional
➕ 208 millones de contribución a las arcas públicas en impuestos