The mining village of Lousal (Grândola, Portugal) is currently an international example of success in socio-economic, environmental and mining heritage rehabilitation. The Lousal VHMS mine worked continuously between 1900 and 1988, exploiting pyrite as a sulfur source for fertilizers production. The RELOUSAL program resulted from the joint efforts of the Municipality of Grândola and the mine owner company - SAPEC, SA. The program is responsible for the restoration of the mineshafts and conversion of the old power plant into a mining museum. The main warehouse gave place to a regional restaurant, the mine offices were transformed into a handicraft centre and the administration house was converted in a rural hotel. A rehabilitation plan directed to reclaim the Lousal contaminated area was defined and promoted by EDM (Empresa de Desenvolvimento Mineiro). Some other mining facilities gave rise to the Mine of Science-"Ciencia Viva" Centre, which promotes non-formal educational activities devoted to Science and Technology. The "Ciencia Viva" activities at Lousal represent a very strong attractor for public that definitely changed the daily life scenario to which this territory appeared to be condemned. More than fifty researchers coming from different institutions - universities, research institutes, museums and the Portuguese Association for Industrial Archaeology - and covering many different fields in science and technology (e.g., geology, biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, engineering, computer graphics) have already been somehow involved in the RELOUSAL program. In particular, the strong commitments of the "Ciencia Viva" National Agency and the University of Lisbon, through its Faculty of Science, have raised very high the scientific standards of the whole initiative.