     
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||
 VaniCape Vani is located at the NW tip of Milos. Millions of years ago, the area was the muddy floor of a submarine crater, where rocks rich in manganese gradually formed. In 1871 the first attempts to mine the manganese ores were made. Operations started at various locations on the cape. They were finally consolidated by the French company Serpieri & Cie in 1898. The company employed approximately 250 persons, of whom 150 men were mining the ore, 50 women and children were handpicking it, and another 50 were involved in transporting it. At the end of the 19 th century, annual production was 18.000 tonnes, of which 70% was sent to England , France and the United States by steamers. The rest was shipped to the smelters at Lavrion, Attica. With the end of WWI, demand for manganese dropped, and the Vani mines closed down in 1920, after having produced more than 220.000 tonnes of manganese ore.
|
|
||||||||||||||||
