Brejo Mines, Bobadela

Brejo is another open pit mine regarding the Roman Era Mining Complex in the upper valley of the Terva River. This exploration, disposed close to theBrejo stream, is distributed over an area of approximately 12 hectares, just outside the village of Bobadela. At the core of this mine, numerous trenches and open pit cuts are still visible. The auriferous deposits occur in primary context, as all the mineral deposits identified at the PAVT, where the gold occurs in quartz veins that permeate the granitic substrate. The open pit mining was conducted, preferably in SW-NE, S-N and E-W directions, which becomes visible in the disposal of the remainingpits and trenches. Gallery remains are fairly rare. Outside of the mining area, but in its direct area of influence to the West lies the BrejoHillfort or "Castro", as it´s locally known. Perched on top of a spur, dominating the entire space between Nogueira and Bobadela and overlooking the mining area, this archaeological site may correspond to a fortified mining settlement, with a single delimited surrounding wall, which spans less than 1 hectare, already very ruined. Through the collectedarchaeological evidence, this Castro is believed to have hada large chronological occupation, somewhere between the Bronze Age and the Roman Era. Due to the abandonment of mining, somewhere in 4th century,a pond has formed. The environmental recovery of this mining area can be considered as a case study, since it currently represents one of the most valuable ecological resources of the PAVT. The Terva Valley is located between the Mediterranean and the Euro-Siberian climate regions. As a result of its own geographic circumstance, the Brejo Pond,a human resulting lake, acquiredphyto-climatic characteristics that gave it a high degree of floristic and faunistic biodiversity. The recognition of this ecological value justified the implementation an observatories of fauna and flora of the PAVT. The Brejo Mines integrate the classified defined  by the Portuguese Government as Public Interest Site, promulgated by ministerial order No. 386/2013 (DR, 2nd Series, no. 115 of June 18, 2013), due to its uniqueness and as a fundamental part of the Ancient Mining Complex of the upper Valley of the Terva river, in Boticas.