The gold reserves in Aruba remained a mystery to Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century. However, in 1824, Willem Rasmijn discovered a gold nugget in a dry riverbed (rooi). Later, gold mining operations in Bushiribana and Balashi extracted ore from underground tunnels, revealing Aruba’s rich mineral history.
Historian Johan Hartog documented Aruba’s gold mining sites in his book Aruba in Oude Ansichten. He included a photograph of a gold refinery, initially identified as Balashi’s smelter. However, further research by J. H. M. Walhain in Arubaans Akkoord suggests that the image actually depicts the Miralamar mines.
The hilly terrain seen in the photo matches Miralamar’s landscape, a region known for extensive gold extraction. During the gold rush in Aruba, miners dug into the hills, unearthing quartz veins known as “Piedra di speki”, which contained gold.
The oldest rocks in Aruba, including basalt, pillow lava, and tuff, date back 97 million years to the Cretaceous period (135–66 million years ago). During this time, volcanic activity played a crucial role in forming the island’s geological foundation.
These geological processes created gold-bearing quartz veins, later discovered in areas like Miralamar, Bushiribana, and Balashi.
Aruba’s gold deposits were a result of millions of years of volcanic activity. The discovery of gold-rich quartz in the 19th century led to an era of mining, shaping the island’s economic and historical landscape. Today, the remnants of gold mines in Miralamar and Bushiribana serve as a reminder of Aruba’s fascinating geological history.
