1106 Table 3 – Tourism conversion projects in Europe and the United Kingdom Project Name Country Closure of Operations Conversion Model Key Stakeholders Main Results Zollverein Complex Germany 1986 Multifunctional conversion Foundation, Companies, State 2,780 jobs, World Heritage Site, business incubator. Leipzig Lake District Germany 1970s1990s State-led macrorehabilitation State, investors Transformation of a vast mining area into a sustainable tourism destination. Big Pit National Coal Museum Wales (United Kingdom) 1980 Operational preservation Local government, Charitable trust Authentic experience with former miners as guides, preservation of industrial heritage. It should be noted that there are other countries such as Ireland, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, France, Poland, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic, among others, which, together with Spain, currently make this part of the world the one with the highest number of mining parks and museums (Cenzano, 2007). However, in countries on other continents, such as Korea and Japan, several mine museums have been established, as well as in Australia and New Zealand. 4.4. North America: Public Space Projects In the United States, the Pikeview Quarry Rehabilitation Project in Colorado demonstrates how a limestone quarry once considered a “scar” on the community can be transformed into a recreational asset through ecological restoration, native species, and infrastructure for cycling, hiking, and recreation (Herschbach, 2018). Other examples include the Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine in West Virginia, where visitors enter a recreated mine tunnel, and the World Museum of Mining in Butte, Montana, which preserves mining facilities and equipment (Cenzano, 2007). See Figure 1. Figure 1 - Experiences in the United States with the implementation of mining museums. a) Museum and mining exhibition park in Beckley. b) World Museum of Mining in Butte. An emblematic case is Kennecott’s Bingham Canyon Mine, located near Salt Lake City, Utah, where experiential mining tourism takes place at one of the world’s largest and deepest operating mines, owned by Rio Tinto. The author observed this firsthand during a guided tour from a safe viewing platform and at the Visitor Center, which tells the story of Kennecott, which began operations in 1904. Table 4 shows these and other cases in different states of the country that teach visitors to appreciate mining activities (Cenzano, 2007).
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