L'Argentière-la-Bessée is a town in the Hautes Alpes region of the French Alps. It takes it name from the silver mine just above town. The mine has been worked since the 11th century and most productively in the 19th century.
The mine is open for public tours, starting at the heritage centre in town with a 30 minute video and then travelling up to the mine for the underground tour.
Once underground you'll explore two levels seeing evidence of fire setting from the earliest workings (demonstrated in the video) and 19th century pumping and winding equipment.
The local historical society is very active in pushing the exploration of the mine.
Tour costs 7.50 Euros.