New Almaden, known in Spanish as Nueva Almadén, is a historic community and former mercury mine in the Capitancillos Hills of San Jose, California, located at the southwestern point of Almaden Valley in South San Jose.
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New Almaden is divided into two parts: the mines and much of their immediate surroundings, including historic ghost town settlements in the Capintancillas, which together form the Almaden Quicksilver County Park, and the largely residential historic district surrounding the Casa Grande.Discovered in the 1820s by Mexican settlers, New Almaden mines are the oldest mines in California and were one of the most productive mercury mines in the country. Long before the arrival of the Spanish, Mexicans, and Americans, the indigenous Ohlone people had long utilized the area for its cinnabar, which they used in paint production.