The concrete thing I'm on about is here:-

http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=50.339027&lon=-5.178482&z=19.1&r=0&src=msl 

It has no bolt holes or anything like that and is clearly a slab. My money is it being done roughly the same time by the same people as Hawke's Shaft at Killifreth.

The people behind Operation Minecap in the 80's (and I'd be very interested in having a chinwag with anyone who was involved) used to excavate (roughly) the area around the shaft to half decent ground, sling in a wire cone upside down, chuck some rocks/stuff in to block it and then do a concrete pour before putting another cap over the top/backfilling. The bigger shafts had some pretty huge cones put over them, but not those with concrete collars (which I assume were "lidded" ).

That's my take on it.

Contact shaft and Hawkes are also on the CCC minerals plan as "strategic shafts" and perhaps the lidding reflected this.......

Sadly, I don't think there were any records taken (unlike the later plugging operations) of what was there before capping so it's difficult to know what is what.

Whilst on the topic, I would be interested in the period of time the breezeblock and re-bar batcastles were put in by Carnon and whether there are any records relating to such....... :offtopic:

Stuey is correct about the location of Contact shaft, for a while back in the late 70's someone had punched a hole in it. I was underground there once whilst someone was fly tipping down the shaft, quite exciting!

You should have shouted up the shaft in an evil voice threatening death from the knockers (not the good type of knocker related death). Would have given them the fright of their life!

Good to hear Contact shaft is still re-useable if need be in future. Cligga really deserves a decent shot at a breakthrough, so many close calls but never the chance it deserved.

I remember the fly-tipping down Contact Shaft

I would rather think that at this stage, Cligga is one of those places that flatters to deceive. If there was anything commercially viable down there, one of the numerous re-workings would have found it.

it's only serious period of working was at a time of national emergency, and subsequent economic constraint, when uneconomic deposits of small size were being worked because they were there at all.

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I remember the fly-tipping down Contact Shaft

I would rather think that at this stage, Cligga is one of those places that flatters to deceive. If there was anything commercially viable down there, one of the numerous re-workings would have found it.

it's only serious period of working was at a time of national emergency, and subsequent economic constraint, when uneconomic deposits of small size were being worked because they were there at all.

In typical Cornish fashion, Cligga had some "stuff visible" and they took it. There is pretty promising ground N of St Agnes (under the sea) and Cligga itself is merely a flake of the eroded seaward boss. Like a lot of the mines in the area (Wheal Droskyn, Perran St George, Wheal East) Cligga itself is pretty shallow.

I can't see anything happening myself, but we'll see how hard Brown's lot have whacked the pound. If it's been whacked hard enough, we could see every mine being pumped out and all the staff being paid in bread and water :lol:

I agree that there is probably very little left in Cligga (as someone said somewhere, it would be better to mill the whole of the headland) but outwards and downwards is a different matter.

Here's a thought for you. Perranporth tourist beach, bloody great big headgear/decline, spoil tips, big grey buildings, noise......

...... It wouldn't matter if it was the last deposit in the world, powered by vegetarians on treadmills and staffed by left handed lesbian trombonists, it would never ever ever happen ever.

Cornwall is all about tourism :guns:

from what i understand cligga is to be gated again some one has taken the lease on the place water samples have been done in contact shaft and the mine has been surveyed.so i think we will have to wait and see on this one .would be nice to see another mine starting up though

I don't think Cligga would have a visual impact on Perranporth beach at all really, it's quite far from the tourist's view of the area and with reference to the dumping of waste material from the mine they would probably be made to find a soloution similar to crofty. Their main issue would be water treatment and blasting times.

well, quite so. What does the tourist beach have to do with it? That scrappy old airfield isn't part of the tourist beach, is it?

The key problem has been highlighted with reference to Crofty. Cornwall is a restricted geographical area with very different views of what is, or isn't, the best way forward. There is a great deal of nostalgia and general baggage clouding the view, as evidenced by the BBC programme 'Tin Men' , and a LOT of people with agenda of varying descriptions.

the historic industry has a pretty hideous track-record for contamination and general mess, look at United Downs, or the Red River as it was not SO many years ago, or the stuff Geevor used to chuck into the sea, or the relatively recent Wheal Jane water mitigation works.

If you don't have a major financial backer, and a large site which is pretty much destroyed to begin with and well off the tourist route, I can't see how you could expect to get through the maze of planning, environment all the rest of it, to develop a mining prospect of any commercial value. Crofty appears to tick both boxes, but they aren't home and dry yet, not by a long way.

no, if Geevor decided it wasn't worth doing at a time when they had money to spend and the skills available, then either it is a dead issue or it requires a complete rethink and a total redevelopment.

the days of mining for tax deductions and development grants on the grand scale are gone. It maybe worth someone's while to spend a bit on pottering about to offset some tax, but I'd suspect that's about it

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It is possible to enter the shaft, climb down from the engine house accross the rock and up a 30ft ish face to enter the shaft. The going is fairly good but the shaft is flooded with water after about 80ft or so. Was having an explore down there yesterday, gots some pics down the shaft and hope to post them in the next couple of days.

Olly

I've just posted a couple of pics in one of the Botallack albums showing the Boscawen Shaft entrance, taken last month. The tide was low, light OK and there was no spray. The path around the cliff is now badly eroded.

I'm a bit too sedentary to go climbing rocks, but must admit to just standing there for some time in respectful contemplation at the thought of sinking a shaft there in mid-Victorian times. Also imagining the then Prince and Princess of Wales descending the shaft in 1865 - I wonder if H&S would allow Wills & Kate to do something similar today.....:blink: