The one Central Wales mine I'd have loved to see underground - and I think that goes for all of us!

Old photos of Van Mine near Llanidloes. Thank you for your kind response, but I’m also on the hunt for photos. I will ask my extended family if they have any they can dig out. I fear they won’t be of much interest to you mine explorers, though. Any that have been passed down are likely to be above ground family- focused. The Van mine has a place in our family folklore, but for my mother and sisters it was something of a place of doom, because when they were still teenagers, it collapsed economically, evidently taking any family wealth with it! Having done some potholing in my younger days, I find your mine exploration fascinating. If you have a chance to explore the Van Mine I should be delighted to hear about it.

Who owns it nowadays? Is it in private ownership or local authority, or ? In the Nineties I met someone nearby who was researching for a book about the mine. He or someone else said they were trying to turn it into a local tourist attraction, but possibly just the above ground workings, buildings, etc?

I have to admit to a load of old photographs in digital form which I cannot really upload without permission from Simon Hughes who was kind enough to give them to me. I dont see Simon these days and am unsure of how he is as he has health problems.

I dont know whether you ever get to see him John?

I have one somewhere which may or may not be Van mine which shows a truck on rails on a stand being used as a fend off from a waterwheel power train.

Has anyone ever been into the workings themselves?