 In 1830, the farming of Garouille (a dwarf oak that provided vermilion dye) and charcoal production was the main economic activity of Albas, with alfalfa and livestock (goats for milk, sheep for meat, mules for travel).The iron mining which merely collected the unrefined ore (ferrières) in the Middle Ages gave way at the beginning of the 20th century to mining on the Lacamp plateau.Iron was carried by trolleys and the small railway linking Durban-Corbières to Tuchan until 1930.