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In 1860 a company called "La Fortuna" (Fortune) started searching for lead minerals at Malfidano and Planu Sartu. Five years later, after the discovery of important seams, a certain Ing. Eyquem founded the "Societè Anonyme des Mines de Malfidano". Thus giving way to an intensive exploitation of the seams in the area.
The mineral boom brought with it the development of a small array of huts and humble cottages gathered together in a large village, that shortly turned into an actual town with a population that reached 12 000 inhabitants at the beginning of the 900s, the town that became renown as Buggerru.
The presence of the Malfidano Company and other French companies considerably influenced the development of Buggerru; the centre comprised a hospital, cinema and company stores. The mining companies became the exclusive counterpart of the miners, whose service and goods expenses were deducted directly from their wages. The community’s social life and customs were so heavily influenced by floods of innovations that the town was nicknamed "small Paris".
In the Buggeru area other more or less important mining villages were established, such as Planu Dentis, Caitas and Planu Sartu, some of which like the latter were particularly crowded.
The vastness of work, the construction of the large Malfidano washery, the Oxland furnaces, besides benefits derived from the use of electricity from 1896, improved and developed production systems, but at the same time, the work pace imposed by “the mining management” was heavy enough to seriously compromise relations with the workers. In September 1904 a peaceful strike held by the miners to claim their rights, ended up bloody and with the loss of three men to which a fourth, seriously injured, was added shortly after.
The extraction industry after having seriously influenced the history of the place and after recurring events, ceased all activity in the second half of the 900s. The marks left on the environment by countless mining activities today require interventions necessary to hold back deterioration and to emphasize environmental and cultural resources with the return of important structures to be used for tourism.
