Chad - The curious iron mines of Télé-Nugar

The site of the Curious iron mines of Tele-Nugar is located 155 km south of Melfi, capital of Barhr Signaka. The site is in the village Tele-Nugar, along the road between Melfi and Sarh. The mines of this site were discovered in 1911 and would have operated from Antiquity to the 19th century. This site, which is about 1000m in diameter, served as both an iron extraction mine and an iron reduction workshop by the Fanian people. It is characterized by a gallery that has several cavities that communicate. It also has air holes always visible that allowed miners to receive oxygen and light during work. The vault of this gallery is supported by carved pillars in the vertical walls. All around the gallery are remnants of iron-reducing furnace walls, fragments of tuyeres, water-conserving jars, pottery shards and slag dumps. This gallery has also served as shelter and refuge for the Fanian populations, during the raids of the Kingdom of Ouaddaï.