I was perusing Dines and was interested in the work G. Moorhead did on the Scorrier Mines in 1939-40's.

Without resorting to the record office (from my armchair), I wondered if any of you chaps had any information regarding these investigations.

Trounson mentioned that the North Downs area was one of the best bets for future mining. It is interesting to read what Morehead found on his explorations. I'd quite like to repeat some of them myself.

I gather the reports were done for the British (non-ferrous) Mining Corp.

Any links, rumours or general jibber-jabber greatly appreciated,

Thanks, Stu

The following cites another potential source of information:

"The numerous mines in this area [Scorrier] are mostly shallow, very few of them attained a depth of 1,000 ft. Hitherto the production has been principally copper, though a total of over 10,000 tons of black tin has been raised by the various mines in this district, and wolfram in some quantity was making its aoppearance in some of the deeper workings."

"...developments in the Scorrier district ceased at wahta was probably the transition horizon between copper and tin."

"An immenense amount of information concerning this area [Scorrier] was collected by Mr.C.E.Trestrail of Redruth and embodied by him in a series of reports; the information which these contain should be invaluable in any future large-scale planning of mining here. The prospects in this extensive area are, possibly, better than in any other part of Cornwall not at present being worked."

K.F.G.Hosking & J.H.Trouson "The Mineral Potential of Cornwall", pp.355-369 in "The Future of Non-Ferrous Mining in Great Britain and Ireland: a symposium" (London: Institution of Mining & Metallurgy, 1959), the above quotes are from p.366.

In this volume is a contribution from a G.A.Moorhead, described as Director, Silvermines Lead & Zinc Co Ltd, to the discussion on Irish mines and prospects, mentioning this company's Irish barytes output. He did not contribute to the discussion of Cornish mines and prospects. Is this the same G.Moorhead?

Is this the same person as the partner in Richards, Moorhead & Laing?

J.H.Trouson's paper "Practical Considerations in Developing Old Cornish Mines", pp.371-394 in the above volume is specially interesting.

This volume mentions "At the North Cliffs, near Camborne, a tunnel was driven in order to convey sewage to the sea. During the work a numbe rof lodes had been intersected containing varying amounts of chacopyrite, arsenopyrite, galena and spaherite. These lodes were mapped and sampled, and the individual responsible for the work noted three zones that looked promising from the point of view of the miner." (K.F.Hosking: contribution to discussion on Ore testing, pp. pp.473-5). Is this possibly the tunnel mentioned on a thread a month or two ago?

I assume it's the same Moorhead.

A quick google reveals he was involved in mines oop north.

There were several tunnels driven to keep men busy in lean times, one near Snagnes and one from Portreath (not North Cliffs), they cut a few lodes and it's quite possible moorhead was around to comment.

the Polperro Sea outfall tunnel ( mentioned in a recent thread ) is in East Cornwall and was driven in 1995-6.

it was a purely civil engineering project

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http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/news/86447.aspx?page=7&month=8&year=2008 

That's your tunnel. It was driven in 1929. Later on, there was some diamond drilling done in 1937 following a couple of promising veins being cut. Nothing came of it.

There was another big tunnel driven from just N of St Agnes, which looks like a massive adit discharging volumes of water. It doesn't actually go to anything....

Back to North Downs/Scorrier mines, I suppose Wheal Concord was effectively in the area and I'm aware they were having a look around. I gather there is literature, but it isn't in wide circulation....

Following a lead, I remember "Paull's Shaft" of North Downs/Wheal Rose was opened and I believe this is the one that had the small headgear on it in 1942.

http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=50.256925&lon=-5.201066&z=17.7&r=0&src=msl 

The shaft is currently being used as a dump/sewage facility.

Do any of that line of shafts on your flashearth link 'go' stu?
Was having a chat to a previous mine/underground manager at concorde at work and he gave the distinct impression that there was never anything worth digging up there, nor did anyone really expect to find anything. Which I suppose gives anecdotal evidence to the ground not being as promising as hoped.

Then again the same guy was telling me that it was common practice in crofty to tunnel past bodies of ore, note the position and cover them with wooden boarding so that the price of ore could be kept high rather than bring up too much, which doesn't sound quite right to me.

I would say that trying to match production volume to best price was good management!

there's nothing new in the concept of speculative mining development being done for reasons which ultimately come down to financial management of one kind or another. Quite a few Cornish mines never made any money, or continued working long after their best supported by optimistic or mis-informed shareholders.

there were rumours 'back in the day' that Concord was essentially a tax sump for some unidentified third party. Pendarves slogged on for a number of years without ever really justifying itself. Cleveland Potash pretty much bankrupted its original investors.. you might almost believe that the only way to make money in mining is to let someone else spend it first!

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All the shafts are open, but are about 300ft to water and I gather most of the lodes are pretty vertical. There is one very worth looking at. The snag is due to Dines' huge inaccuracy in describing the plans, it could be very hit and miss.

The whole Scorrier section of Dines is well worth a read, however the GAP Morehead reports are what's really needed.

It seems people in general who are ex mine staff are quite dismal about the whole thing. I gather Killfreth/Unity wood/North downs are considered very good prospects indeed. They merely scratched it. Also there is a big patch of ground unexplored towards Scorrier house where Killifreth and Busy lodes converge.... That could be pretty rich.

Anyway, a bit off topic......

Verging off-topic but to pick up on one of Derrickman's comments, I'm reminded of two quotes about metal mining:

"A mine is a hole in the ground surrounded by liars",

and:

"... they poured scores of thousands of pounds down holes in Cwm Pennant and called it mining."

The second is from D.M.Rees "Mines, Mills and Furnaces: Industrial Archaeology in Wales" (London, 1969), p.49 where he quotes a descendant of the early C19 mineral owners of the estate Gilfach Copper Mine was located on.

Speaking of tunnels at North Cliffs, the Portreath sewage outfall was driven from near the primary school and is still used, discharging at North cliffs below RAF Portreath
Any lodes cut along its route would be extensions of the mines below RAF Portreath - Wh Clarence and co.
The Camborne sewage tunnel (disused) outfalls near Basset's Cove and passes under land once owned by the Tehidy Estate; in fact there is an access point and strange victorian style building in a field adjoining the coast road from Portreath to Godrevy. There is another access point near a caravan site which was explored within the last five years by HM Customs following reports that it was being used to store or transport contraband. A thorough search revealed nothing.
There was talk at one time of driving an adit from North Cliffs into wheal Peevor and the North Downs Mines. Now that would have been worth doing!!!
And where is the Scorrier tunnel then? this formed part of a leat system to convey water from Pedn-an-Drea Mine in Redruth, to somewhere daft like Wheal Unity (can't think at present) but anyway , at over a mile in length it sounds like an interesting prospect, from the ME's point of view. Legend has it that certain sections of it were supposed to have been maintained from canvas bottom boats.
More wive's tales?! ::)

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Another mystery is the current identity of Basset's cove.

Old literature refers to it being Portreath Beach itself, whilst recent maps have it down as around the corner a couple of notches, between Mirrose Well cove and Ralph's Locker. That's on the 6" maps as "Spratting Cove".

It does make you think, what would happen to the water if they decided to work Killifreth/North Downs again? and then the other one, What did Concord do with their water? I assume that Phillips adit (the one linking to Concord shaft and then county adit) wasn't used. If I'm right, the Wheal Busy section of County Adit is operational whilst the Killifreth adit (Via Unity/Poldice) is multiply bloked/choked.

All fascinating stuff.

Judging by the pipes going down various shafts, I wouldn't want to be on the adit maintenance/clearance team if there was a rework.

It seems interesting that despite Trounson's recommendations, ND has been pretty free of drill rigs (so I gather) I would have thought it was top priority.

Bassets Cove is indeed a bit of a puzzle. According to the brief, but interesting, history of Portreath by Michael Tangye Portreath and Bassets Cove were one and the same.

In an indenture of 1826 between Lord de Dustanville Basset, the families of Williams and Fox, and Charles Reynolds of Trevenson the latter were granted on lease:

"All the quay, pier and harbour known by the name of Portreath otherwise Bafsets Cove in the Parish of Illogan............"

In 1886 the harbour was made free port by the Basset family and eventually was sold by them to A.C. Reynolds & Sons.

Lady Basset's baths were on the headland to the west of Wheal Mary.

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I thought the Lady Basset's baths were actualy a load of nonsense. They are very shaft/winze like to me, I was wondering if it was a kind of Wherry Mine style trial....ie with a caulked wooden collar. It's sort of in line with the strike of the Wheal Mary lode (from what I can tell from looking at the openworks).

I'm inclined to think that Basset's Cove is Portreath and Basset's Cove (OS Maps) is a mistype and is actually Spratting Cove. It doesn't make sense naming a pokey, weedy cove at the bottom of an immense cliff after the Bassets. Portreath was much more grand, hence makes more sense.

I agree. Portreath was indeed Basset's Cove and the present day BC named by the NT on the plaque in the car park is what I too would call Spratting Cove.
As for Concord's adit; they were originally planning to use the County Adit, but found it choked.
Ref. extract from official booklet - Viz;

"In the meantime the shaft had been descended by crane and the standing water level found to be well above adit at 39 Metres from surface, this meant pumping to surface at least untill the adit was cleared. The South West Water Authority demanded that any effluent from reopening the shaft should be directed towards the Chacewater/Carnon stream and this meant laying a 6" Dia gravity line from the mine site to to the south side of the A30 road to meet an existing stormwater drain. A two inch dia service water line for the mine was installedfrom the mainat Blackwaterat the same time.
Dewatering and shaft furnishing proceeded using a stage suspended on two hand winches, the adit level was found at 49.40 Metres from the surface but dipping away from the shaft, it proved of no use, obviously being choked downstream."

So it looks as if they may have just upgraded the 6" pipe and used the same discharge route. The "portal" being a little way downstream from what was then David Paul's Garage at Blackwater.
There is probably some evidence of this still to be seen.

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******. I'd presumed that the photo of Phillip's adit in Buckley's County Adit book were post Concord pumping. I assume it's totally flooded. However, I did gather from "a chap who was there" that when the cage was dropped down the shaft, there was a huge inrush of air. This suggests that there may be a connection with either a big void or another connection to surface.

I haven't checked, but there is another shaft the sea side of Concord Shaft. Maybe that's open. I gather Concord shaft is only 36F deep.

At some point I'd like to eyeball (and scan) the RTZ book, as well as the Concord book.

The cage was dropped down the shaft? When was that, last I remember it was still hanging from a steel beam.

The present site is occupied by a local plant hire firm. I was given a quick tour by one of the staff (who is an old explorer himself).

The chief is not a welcoming character.

The word you're searching for, stuey, is 'pikey'.

If there is indeed another shaft open seaward of concorde shaft that would give a good choice for dropping to see what's down there. If the water was pumped out and adit revealed, was it a cost issue that prevented advancing down the adit and clearing it or something else altogether?

Why the hell did they drop the cage down the shaft anyway?

One of many things they have been dumping down there. Rumour is it's part of a foolhardy attempt to claim ownership of the land by having lived there unchallenged for x number of years without playing rent. TBH that cage looked like it was held up by magic anyway!