In light of the current economic climate what would be the chances this day and age of reopening a small mining operation-say for lead- copper possibly gold-

Aside from insurance for your workers how many other hoops would have to be jumped through?

Could there be great riches gained from a small mining operation? even a smash and grab recovery operation?

would there be skilled and valuable members here interested in forming a uk mining conglomerate- does anybody know where to find the money?

answers on a postcard please

I suspect a few members on here can advise You on the number of legal hoops through which You must jump. A lot is the short answer. The Environment Agency will have a lot to say about the matter.

Raising the capital would be an uphill task too, but should anyone attempt it, Good luck to them.

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insurance for employees would a killer. but if there were no employees and all involved were 'self employed' you'd probably side step that one

lead might be an obvious one with the stuff at £1000 a ton

what you'd get for the ore though I've no idea. I do suspect though that if it were viable it would be happening.

if there were a nice easy drift mine for coal with untapped reserves I'd be interested, often fancied a small co-operative of a few blokes, that could do a few weeks graft a year and raise enough coal for personal consumption, we'll be spending a grand on the stuff I imagine between now and easter, if not a lot more

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if there were a nice easy drift mine for coal with untapped reserves I'd be interested, often fancied a small co-operative of a few blokes, that could do a few weeks graft a year and raise enough coal for personal consumption, we'll be spending a grand on the stuff I imagine between now and easter, if not a lot more

- loads of outcrops round our way- Many have had a bit of illegal digging done -on a small and sometimes slightly larger scale !

if youve got a landrover youd be laughing- sadly im in a strict smokeless zone so no matter how much i could dig ....ahem......theres just no use for it and no one to buy it.

really? where!! managed over a ton in the back of the disco' a couple of years back, steering were a bit light though!

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Thats simple.... Swinhope, Consolidated Goldfields proved a couple of flyers off Williams Vein, nice BIG thick Lead Veins with respectable Zinc values not far from surface, in the 80's a guy we knew toyed with the idea of a punt at it so we got all the paperwork and assay plan done by Cons Gold, impressive reading too!!! We approached Minworth to see if it could be sublet and I think they put a digger in and tried to free the incline, missed it too from what I remember!!! Consolidated Goldfields tried the whole thing on the recommendation of Dunham, idea was to test the Killhope Watershed, most of the drive was good old stone with the exception of minor Sulphides somewhere towards the end of the drive. But they did uncover these veins and access to them would allow indirect access to Barneycraig Flatts, a lot of Zinc left there too!!!
Incidentally, the guy who was interested drove a Rolls Royce down that lovely track to the mine, if you ever go past have a look at it, those cars are truly marvels!!!

If you come down to the Peaks, read Manlove first, then find the Lead, then have a word with the Barmasters, thats how we do it !!

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Having re-opened one or two mines previously, I would say that the physical side of the process is relatively easy if you have the skills.
The killer is always the red tape and the NIMBY's.

Manlove is somewhat out of date on account of having been written 350 years ago, the 1851 or 1852 acts are the what you need to read, depending on which liberty you're in. Although you could claim the right to work a lead mine through the Barmote court, you still need minerals planning permission to actually start working it, and of course there's the Mines Inspectorate to satisfy before you can start...

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On reopening lead mines , i saw an article once about the search for Low alpha lead for use in the computer industry
it was said that all lead is contaminated with radiation after 1945 (was this due to nuclear fall out from bombs ) ?
and that non radio active lead is required for circuit boards
thus "Low Alfa"
recycled lead cannot be used as the radiation affects the circuits
The article said that Microsoft and the like , had done a search of all the available data on lead mines around the world in their quest for virgin lead and that they had reopened and exhausted most known viable sources
in the article it was said that Low alpha lead was worth approx 200 times the value of already processed lead
so if you find a source , there is a lot of money to be made

On reopening lead mines , i saw an article once about the search for Low alpha lead for use in the computer industry
it was said that all lead is contaminated with radiation after 1945 (was this due to nuclear fall out from bombs ) ?
and that non radio active lead is required for circuit boards
thus "Low Alfa"
recycled lead cannot be used as the radiation affects the circuits
The article said that Microsoft and the like , had done a search of all the available data on lead mines around the world in their quest for virgin lead and that they had reopened and exhausted most known viable sources
in the article it was said that Low alpha lead was worth approx 200 times the value of already processed lead
so if you find a source , there is a lot of money to be made

Alpha won't get far in Lead, a sheet of paper can stop it!!! Beta can normally be contained in a Quality Street tin, it's gamma that can penetrate a small distance, don't tend to do much harm though... Sounds like Neutron bombardment in steel, they pinch pieces of pre '45 steel on a regular basis if they need specialist material.
The perils of carrying out large scale fission in the open air!!

there's folks made money pulling steel from the bottom of scapa flow for its low background steel/lack of cobalt-60 etc

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On reopening lead mines , i saw an article once about the search for Low alpha lead for use in the computer industry
it was said that all lead is contaminated with radiation after 1945 (was this due to nuclear fall out from bombs ) ?
and that non radio active lead is required for circuit boards
thus "Low Alfa"
recycled lead cannot be used as the radiation affects the circuits
The article said that Microsoft and the like , had done a search of all the available data on lead mines around the world in their quest for virgin lead and that they had reopened and exhausted most known viable sources
in the article it was said that Low alpha lead was worth approx 200 times the value of already processed lead
so if you find a source , there is a lot of money to be made

Alpha won't get far in Lead, a sheet of paper can stop it!!! Beta can normally be contained in a Quality Street tin, it's gamma that can penetrate a small distance, don't tend to do much harm though... Sounds like Neutron bombardment in steel, they pinch pieces of pre '45 steel on a regular basis if they need specialist material.
The perils of carrying out large scale fission in the open air!!

Hi I'm sure you are correct in what you say , i no nothing of radiation etc , but there does seem to be a market for this "Low alpha lead" what ever it is

Up until the Second World War there were lots of small mines worked in just such a way, then along came planning legislation and guess what suddenly there weren't lots any more. All you had to do was approach the mineral owner or his agent, & then it was down to their attitude. In those days the Mines Inspectors must have been used to such shoestring operations, which in general they probably wouldn't be today.
In Cornwall there's probably little chance of finding anything worthwhile new at shallow depths, but I think there are certain areas which are geologically complex, where despite being mined for generations the structural geology wasn't really understood until very late in the history of active working. A thorough reexamination of old plans may suggest some good shallow targets. Keeping exactly where I'm thinking of to someone coming up with a proposal...
There might also be chances of finding workable zinc mineralisation in some of the old copper mines, perhaps...

Ali, Trounson's Cornish Mineral Industry 19something to 19somethingelse suggests a few operations.

Whiteworks between United and Consols being one and the other being Porkellis, for immediately easy startups, then he went on to suggest more cryptic operations (required pumping and mucking about with).

I think people have lost their adventurer's spirit. You read old books about "Farmer found a stone of galena as large as a horses head" or "Intersected a seam of tin whilst digging the foundations for a hedge" People these days haven't got a clue.

If you consider the prices at the moment, it seems bizarre that a team of swashbucking adventurers haven't assembled themselves with a load of lashed up gear, skill and spirit, knowledge and a dream of making some cash and tried some of Trounson's suggestions.

Clearly, there are major financial obstacles to retimbering a shaft, erecting a hoist, etc, etc, etc and suddenly, you run into hundreds of thousands of pounds. Trounson implied that in several cases, it was just a matter of going and doing some stoping and simple milling.

I imagine that prospective financial backers are less forthcoming with handing a load of money to hillbillies as well, regardless of how sound their reasoning is.

Wheal Concord was probably the last operation of the magnitude of what we are talking about. Personally, I think the Wheal Jane/Crofty "Mine it with massive remote control diggers on a massive scale" is totally unsuited to Cornish deposits and I reckon the future, as far as I've read, consists of a more small scale, traditional approach. We probably won't see any form of movement on this for decades.

All my opinion, etc.

What I would love someone to answer is this:-

Considering that Crofty have reserves which they were actively mining at depth, which would be ready to stope now, given the current price of tin/metals, why oh why oh why are they jerking off so much?

The old boys would have exhausted it by now with the current available equipment.

What we need is to do a Jurassic Park style reconstruction/cloning experiment with John Taylor's corpse. He had the required level of diligence and application!

I think people have lost their adventurer's spirit.

Assuming I was single, and didn't have to put a roof over my families head (and had some beer tokens to spend), I'd be all over it like a rash.

The spirit is there, but my missus would, without a shadow of a doubt, "kill me in a horrific way that gives even the most seasoned pathologist pause for thought".

The exact nature of this has not been specified as of yet, but I have been assured it exists, and that I have had plenty of ideas and embarked on a number of paths that have given just cause for Her Ladyship to think up the aforementioned method of my demise up.

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Re opening a mine, an expensive gamble for the un initiated I would say...

Reserves, costs in reopening/developement.

Health/safety.

The Mines Inspectorate.

Planning permission.

Ore prices economic now but what will they be by the time you start production and the money men want there money back plus interest.

Not poo pooing the idea but just thinking of a few relavent points.

Lozz.

Ali, Trounson's Cornish Mineral Industry 19something to 19somethingelse suggests a few operations.

Do you mean the book called "Cornwall's Future Mines"?

The Wheal Concord book is worth a read.

Lambriggan Zinc mine would be an interesting prospect.

I suppose one snag we have is the lefty yoghurt weavers entrenched in the make-the-rules sector which will put a spanner in any set of adventurers works. Sadly, a massive human population need to ****** the environment up in order not to have a caveman style of life. I'm sure the hairy armpited feminist freaks who work for the environment agency/LA would rather we all lived on boiled grass (from sustainable, carbon neutral heating sources) in sodding mud huts. Cretins.

They will hang onto their nice payscales and pensions when you are living in a mud hut, I should have said.

Ali, Trounson's Cornish Mineral Industry 19something to 19somethingelse suggests a few operations.

Do you mean the book called "Cornwall's Future Mines"?

No. It's trounson's other one with a pic of cligga head headgear on the front. It's not so fat. Google will bring it up. Very similar subject matter, but a slightly different take on it.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cornish-Mineral-Industry-Performance-South-West/dp/0859893340