From the Bronze age up to the 1870s it was a site of copper-mining . An attempt was made to restart mining in the late 1950s by a Canadian mining company, but this came to nothing (see the Allihies Copper Mine Museum ACMM Web Site).
The jewel of Allihies mining heritage is its spectacular engine house located on the mountain above the village and installed by the famous Cornish engineers Michael Loam and Son in 1862. The area saw a massive emigration when the mine closed due to a fall in price of copper worldwide. Many miners went to Butte, Montana and the town has many families who trace their ancestry back to Allihies.
The mountain mine man engine house has recently been conserved by the Mining Heritage Trust of Ireland. The finished conservation project and some of the underground mine workings were features in a TV programme "Townlands" on RTÉ One in 2005.
Wiki
Please see Mountain Mine for photos and documents: [url]http://www.aditnow.co.uk/mines/Mountain-Mine-Copper-Mine/[/url]