Who knew the Val d'Ayas was a gold-rich area?
A now inactive mine is just a short distance from Lake Brusson! The Chamousira Fenilliaz gold mine is the most important gold mine in the Aosta Valley. Divided into 7 levels with an extension of about 1,600 meters, it included a complex of external installations that were used to treat gold. It was used from 1899 until the end of the eighties and today allows you to have a panoramic view of the valley thanks to a panoramic terrace created from the site of the old cable car.
In the company of guides you can visit: the gallery at level 7 of the lodging Fenilliaz where there is a path dug in the heart of the mountain, the mine museum of Chamousira (a panoramic structure that insists on the external area that once was occupied by the cable car for the transport of the mineral). In addition, in Brusson, near the pond, there is the Joseph Herbet Documentation Centre, a permanent exhibition where some interesting photographic and cartographic evidence of the time are exhibited.
To get to Brusson and see the mines, take the road to Estoul by car. After 4 Km you will find a first pedestrian access signposted that, in about twenty minutes walk, leads to the entrance of the mine. Alternatively, continuing further along the same road for another 2 km, at the height of the town of Gollie there is another sign indicating a second pedestrian path.
