Velardeña

Velardeña is a mining village of 2,923 people (2020 census) in Cuencamé municipality, about 80 km from Gómez Palacio. It spreads along the Arroyo Cuencamé, with the Sierra de San Lorenzo behind it and mesquite scrub all around. Everything here revolves around the ore in the hills: the mine sits a kilometre north of the houses, and next to town lie the waste heaps of the old ASARCO smelter.

The date people remember is 9 May 1907, when the Terneras mine caught fire. Ninety-nine workers died; the blaze is thought to have started from a torch or candle used for light, and the deposit kept burning for about a month. A nearly 10-metre obelisk in the municipal cemetery honours them, and for the centenary in 2007 a statue of a miner went up on the median of Calzada Centenario.

The last century brought booms and busts. When Grupo México shut down its operation, many young people left for other regions or the United States, and residents described the place as a ghost town. Peñoles revived the mine and opened a zinc plant of roughly US$230 million in 2013. Since then streets have been paved with stamped concrete, a footbridge crosses the arroyo, sports courts have roofs, the baseball field moved out toward the highway, and the church, the plaza and a small museum have been renovated. On 11 July, Miners' Day, there are processions, a dance and a shared meal.