Mining

It is hardly an exaggeration to say that mining is the reason that Old Mines exists.  The French first explored the possibility of mining perhaps even before 1700 (when the first written documentation exists referring to mines here).  From the early 1700's through the middle of the 19th century, lead mining was the principal economic activity in the region, later replaced by the mining of tiff (barite), formerly discarded as waste, and then mined primarily for use in the petroleum industry.