Autun Warnings Or Dangers

While visiting the Porte St.-Andre there was a belvedere with a view to the North with the Morvan in the distance. Rearing up just beyond town were two dark hillocks that were puzzling, until we found out what they were. They are two immense slag-heaps that result from the "mining" of the tar sands in that locality before the 20C. With the technology of oil well drilling in its infancy, oil shale and other bituminous materials were harvested for petroleum associated materials and these are the residues, over a century old. The mines closed when petroleum became plentiful. Immense mineral deposits of this type are present in both the US and Canada (Athabaska) and vast sums are being spent trying to make it profitable, but the slag will always remain as a by-product. This is a monument to man's ignorance and greed.