Abstract

Valuing mining remains is an emerging trend within the wider context of industrial heritage. Since the nineties, this trend has attracted the interest of researchers, as an alternative source of development in former mining areas; and a way to ameliorate social, economic and environmental decay. Several initiatives of mining heritage tourism have been implemented as a result of this trend. From a sustainability approach, the paper proposes a management strategy for mining heritage reuse in the mining basin of Lota and Coronel, in Chile. In Lota and Coronel the local community sees the future with uncertainty after the shutting down of the mines put an end to more than one hundred and fifty years of mining history. The research results show that mining heritage poses specific challenges for preservation. One of them is the need to transfer ownership from only one landowner (i.e. the Mining Company), to a diverse array of agents. And that an appropriate solution to this challenge is a key aspect for sustainable reuse.