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The Cable
This is the last remaining vestige of Marbella's mining funicular.
In 1950, FERARCO S.L., a company belonging to the Basque shipowners Aznar, resumed the extraction of magnetic iron ore from the Peńoncillo or La Concepción mine located in the municipalities of Marbella and Ojén. This mine was previously exploited by the mining company The Marbella Iron Ore C&L, which suspended its extractive mining activity in the early 1930s.
A few years later, in 1955, the company Dragados y Construcciones began construction of a mining funicular, built with steel and concrete, with a total length of 2,986 meters, to transport iron ore from the collection plant of the Concepción mine to the beach.
The last section of the funicular went 307 meters into the sea, making it possible to dock medium-draft ships to load the ore. In 1957, the first shipment from Sierra Blanca was made. After receiving the ore cargo, the ships headed for the north of Spain to the blast furnaces of Vizcaya.
The funicular remained in operation until 1974, the year in which the mining company FERARCO was dissolved when the deposits of ore ran out, which meant the end of the mining industry for Marbella.