Barruecopardo has a mining tradition that spans the entire 20th century. Mining operations for the extraction of tungsten in the area have been recorded since 1902.
The province of Salamanca went from having 31 registered mines in 1940 to having some 540 by 1943, among them were those of Barruecopardo, whose several different excavations -especially ‘Una’ and ‘Santa María de los Ángeles’- attracted workers from many different parts of Spain, even if only to separate mineral and waste using manual hammer techniques.
The thriving era of mining in Barruecopardo, dates from the 50s and 60s of the last century. At that time, it is estimated that the workers numbered some 1,000 people. In fact, the 1960 Barruecopardo census records a population for the town of some 1,595 inhabitants.
The Barruecopardo mine closed abruptly in 1982. During the three decades since then the town has suffered a steady population loss. In 1970, 1,113 residents were registered whereas by 1981 there were 800 residents. In 1991 the population of the locality was 491 people.
In early 2020, 450 people were registered in Barruecopardo.