Mine de Combe Lambert

The main horizontal gallery, named Galerie Schlumberger after a renowned geologist of the time, heads west after passing the collapse that closed the entrance. At 120 m from the entrance, on the left, is the entrance to a natural cavity (Cavité 1 Mine Combe Lambert) of little extent. At 130 m, a gallery heads south for 20 m: this is south crosscut 1, which crosses two other cavities. At 160 m begins south crosscut 2, 100 m long; at 25 m from its start, another branch is noted on the right. The main gallery continues then curves toward the southwest and, at 225 m, presents the small branch of south crosscut 3. At 260 m, one arrives at an important junction: to the right, a gallery of 13 m with a flooded incline branch and a rise (+5 m); to the left, south crosscut 4, which joins another gallery at the level of another incline (low point at -10 m). This gallery, named transversale, continues east, skirts a blind shaft, passes a collapse then heads northeast where it joins south crosscut 2 after 80 m of travel. After the junction, the gallery continues for 45 m to south crosscut 5, which descends for 45 m. The gallery continues another 120 m and ends at a natural pocket lined with ferruginous concretions of bacterial origin.

The gallery ends at a natural pocket lined with ferruginous concretions of bacterial origin.

As with the galleries of the Mine des Fontanilles at Rieussec, the mine de Combe Lambert runs along the contacts between Ordovician schists and the black crinoidal limestones of the Lochkovian. These contacts contain the mineral oxidations transported by hydrothermal fluids during the Hercynian orogeny. The incline was intended to reach the galleries of the Mine des Fontanilles, 140 m below, to evacuate the ore extracted in the Combe Lambert sector.