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Updated: Jul 8, 2026

Deployment and Retrieval of Mineral Samplers
Published on: January 20, 2026
Spain's greatest and most recent mine disaster
Flor Ma Guerrero1, Macarena Lozano, José M Rueda-Cantuche
1Department of Economics, Quantitative Methods and Economic History at Pablo de Olavide University, Spain.
Abstract:
On 25 April 1998, the mineral waste retaining wall at the Swedish-owned pyrite mine at Aznalcóllar (Seville, Spain) burst, causing the most harmful environmental and socio-economic disaster in the history of the River Guadiamar basin. The damage was so great that the regional government decided in May 1998 to finance a comprehensive, multidisciplinary research initiative with the objective of eradicating or at least minimising all of the negative social, economic and environmental impacts. This paper utilises a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis to identify eight strategic measures aimed at providing policymakers with key guidelines on implementing a sustainable development model, in a broad sense. Empirical evidence, though, reveals that, to date, major efforts to tackle the negative impacts have centred on environmental concerns and that the socio-economic consequences have not been completely mitigated.
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