Uma proposta temporã de arrendamento das minas de carvão do Porto e Buarcos (c. 1820)

John Buddle, a prominent figure as coal viewer and owner of several coal mines in the coal basin of Durham and Northumberland (north-east England), was invited by Julião da Costa, the Portuguese consul in Liverpool, to draw up an opinion on the Portuguese coal mines of Porto and Buarcos. To evaluate a possible business with the Portuguese government, both agreed on the need to inspect these mines. They were visited in late 1818, by one of Budlle's closest engineers, whose conclusions would not have excited his employer. Unsatisfied with the little interest shown by the English viewer, but aware of the value of those mines, Julião da Costa presented the matter to the government and proposed the formation of a Company to lease and explore the mines, bringing English know-how and technology to Portugal. Although frustrated, this attempt anticipated for some years the end of the state monopoly of coal exploration in Portugal.