Until the 1960s, ocher was extracted through the water washing of the sands with which it was mixed. A stream of water carried the ocher ore into cofferdams - dams intended for the temporary retention of water to exercise a downstream activity - where the sand was deposited by gravitation while ocher and water were channeled towards settling ponds. Today the route remains the same, but the sand is deposited following the pressurized propulsion of the mixture of ore and water.