Sado Island Gold Mines in Japan is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Sado Island in Japan, located on an island off the coast of the Niigata Prefecture, was granted UNESCO World Heritage Site status on July 27, 2024. The UNESCO World Heritage Committee decided to register the controversial gold mine as a heritage site after Japan agreed to include an exhibit of the past wartime hardships of Korean labourers at the mines. Members of the committee and representatives from South Korea voiced their support for the listing at the annual meeting held in New Delhi.

The mines were nominated in 2022 as a candidate for World Cultural Heritage in Japan.

Sado Island Gold Mines: Important details

On July 27th, the decision to inscribe the “Sado Island Gold Mines” on the World Heritage List was adopted at the 46th Session of the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO being held in New Delhi, India.https://t.co/chPxL9iv8h

— MOFA of Japan (@MofaJapan_en) July 27, 2024

Sado Island in Japan will host a memorial service for all its workers annually. The move aims to better the bilateral ties between South Korea and Japan. The site has been developed as a tourist spot where visitors can learn about traditional mining and production methods used to mine gold and other precious metals. Guests can also take photographs with a giant koban coin at the Gold and Silver Mine Guidance Facility Kirarium Sado.

The Sado Island in Japan includes approximately 50 different mines, including the Aikawa-Tsurushi Gold and Silver Mine, Doyu-no-Warito Opencut Site, Nishimikawa Placer Gold Mine, and the Tsurushi Silver Mine. The Aikawa Gold and Silver Mine, the largest on the island, covers 400 kilometres. Some areas, shafts, and caves have been opened for the public as part of the Historic Site Sado Gold Mine sightseeing route. The mines, once the largest gold producer in the world, operated for 400 years before getting shut in 1989.

(Feature image credit: 日:Muramasa, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

This story first appeared here.