THE MINING ACTIVITY

 
Canale d'Agordo was mainly a mining centre after the 11th century. From the 14th to the 18th century onwards there was an important and constant iron and copper extraction with the fusion of the two minerals at the forges and workshops "I Forn", 500 meters far away from the present church.
The main sites of extraction were Sàis (near Canale) and Sass Négher (near the village of Garés).
For ages this activity was the main sustenance – along with agriculture and breeding – of the whole valley.
For this reason Canale d'Agordo became the economic, religious and political centre of the Biois valley and could afford the institution of a parish independent from Agordo from 1458 onwards.
"Le miniere in Valle del Biois" (2007), the book by Dante Fiocco and Denis Della Giacoma analyses and reports on mining activity in the Biois valley.