Opinions please, mine type. · AditNow Community

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royfellows
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

14 years ago

Hi gang
With aditnow moving to a new server this has acted as an incentive to do my job as mid Wales regional editor and try to bring the mines descriptions up to date.

The thing about some of the mines in this area is that although in terms of tonnages lead may be the main mineral produced, silver may well have been the main economic mineral through much of the life of the mine.

So my question is simple, do I 'brand' the mine as "Lead mine" or "mixed"?
I am happy to take instruction on this.

My avatar is a poor likeness.

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RJV
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

14 years ago

Lead totally.

Even if naming it by just one of the metals tells only half the story, naming it mixed tells nothing.

Suspect most people would probably be aware it wasn't uncommon for mines to produce mineral subsidiary to their main purpose.

Vanoord
54.4% (Neutral)
Newbie

14 years ago

I would be temped to go for the main product, which I guess would usually be defined by tonnage?

Hello again darkness, my old friend...

Roger L
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

14 years ago

Very interesting
I have Coal mines which changed to Ironstone and then to Clay. Others have Coal. Clay and Gannister extraction. We used to have the 'Hepworth Iron Company' which run out of iron and changed to clay, for pipes. They evan made clay pidgeons.
The Romans came and mined clay for pottery and roof tiles. The Monks from North Yorkshire and Roche came and mined Ironstone. This is all in a small area round Huddersfield.
I have two shafts at the end of my road which mined Elland Flags. 'Woodside Mine'

Mine Lectures & Walks available for around Huddersfield

spitfire
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

14 years ago

Would it be possible to have at the end of the drop down box on mineral types to have one marked optional, where the contributor can type in his / her own mineral e.g. copper/tin
silver/lead Etc ?

spitfire

royfellows
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

14 years ago

Mmm, Mr Spitfire, man of ideas

Maybe easy solution is for Simon to simply add Silver/Lead as an aditional option?

Opinions everyone?

The mineral stats interestingly shows "Lead and Silver" for certain mines rather than just "Lead" as a column header.

My avatar is a poor likeness.

RockChick
50.8% (Neutral)
Newbie

14 years ago

i realise this may open a can of worms, but how about a cross reference under the various (major) minerals? so have it entered as LEAD, but also listed under silver- see lead! :blink:

Crocodile 1, Space ship 0!

royfellows
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

14 years ago

More thoughts.

I have now formed an opinion on this.

I think adding "Lead/Silver" as an additional mineral type, as I have put it here so that it will be alphabetically grouped with lead as so will be obvious to those adding new mines.

What say all?

My avatar is a poor likeness.

RockChick
50.8% (Neutral)
Newbie

14 years ago

that'll get confusing for people looking for a lead mine who don't know it also produced silver- unless you can set the site so it brings both up under a 'lead' search?

Crocodile 1, Space ship 0!

royfellows
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

14 years ago

#10

"RockChick" wrote:
that'll get confusing for people looking for a lead mine who don't know it also produced silver- unless you can set the site so it brings both up under a 'lead' search?

Mmm, did you know that Cwmsymlog has extracted lead ore running at over 100 ounces to the ton on silver content?

The key to it all, OK off thread but worth the mention, is the rare complex mineral tetrahedrite. There is this group of mines all in the same area, Darren, Cwmsymlog, Goginan, and Cwmerfin. Others also produced silver but nowhere in the quantities per ton of lead as these.
19th Century con artists often used the term "silver lead mining company" to draw investors into mines with silver content running at less than about 3 ounces to the ton and not worth the trouble of seperation.

My avatar is a poor likeness.

derrickman
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

14 years ago

#11

"royfellows" wrote:
Hi gang

I am happy to take instruction on this.

Barristers do it taking instructions and holding their briefs in their hands 😮

''the stopes soared beyond the range of our caplamps' - David Bick...... How times change .... oh, I don't know, I've still got a lamp like that.

Vanoord
54.4% (Neutral)
Newbie

14 years ago

#12

I don't know a huge amount about how the database works, but I can't see any way that mines could have two (or more) named minerals without rewriting the entire database!

The best bet, I suspect, is to decide on a predominant mineral (or use 'mixed') and then flesh out the alternatives that were mines in the description.

I suspect that the number of mines that cause difficulties are relatively low in comparison to the overall number; and if there are any specific queries, these could be discussed in a forum thread in order to aid a conclusion.

Hello again darkness, my old friend...

Peter Burgess
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

14 years ago

#13

They are all just metal mines to me.... 😉

royfellows
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

14 years ago

#14

I have just revised my earlier opinion, I think it would be confusing. I now think best to leave things as they are.
So basicaly it comes down either "Lead" or "Mixed", and we already have some opinions expressed on this.

Ill let the thread ride for a day or so and see what others say.
Sorry if I am a nuisance, I just want to do whats right by everyone else.
EDIT
Some of the prompting for me starting this thread was the fact that some of the mines I specifically mentioned earlier have been refered to as "silver mines"

My avatar is a poor likeness.

Moorebooks
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

14 years ago

#15

"royfellows" wrote:
I have just revised my earlier opinion, I think it would be confusing. I now think best to leave things as they are.
So basicaly it comes down either "Lead" or "Mixed", and we already have some opinions expressed on this.

Ill let the thread ride for a day or so and see what others say.
Sorry if I am a nuisance, I just want to do whats right by everyone else.
EDIT
Some of the prompting for me starting this thread was the fact that some of the mines I specifically mentioned earlier have been refered to as "silver mines"

the mineral stastitics for the welsh mines are freely available and surely anyone looking for a particular information should be looking a source material to get accurate information.

Take Snailbeach in the 19th Century the primary extraction was for Lead, although there was a small amount of silver extracted, however during the 20th Century Barites was the predominent mineral how would you describe that?

Mike

Mr Mike
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

14 years ago

#16

The option for multiple minerals to a mine would be good, as it seems to be the case with a lot of mines. The ability to add maybe up to 3 0r 4 could be good??

Mr Mike www.mineexplorer.org.uk

parkus
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

14 years ago

#17

"Peter Burgess" wrote:
They are all just metal mines to me.... 😉

Spot on :thumbup:

Vanoord
54.4% (Neutral)
Newbie

14 years ago

#18

"Mr Mike" wrote:
The option for multiple minerals to a mine would be good, as it seems to be the case with a lot of mines. The ability to add maybe up to 3 0r 4 could be good??

The problem with that would be that the mine description is built from what's entered by whoever creates/edits it rather than being entered by the user.

That part of the site is currently offline, but iirc the layout is:

{name}{Mineral type}{site type}

Thus, it may be:

{Croesor}{Slate}{Mine}
or
{Snailbeach}{Mixed}{Mine} etc

Without a pretty significant re-write of the entire site, I don't see how it could support multiple minerals for one mine - and even then you'd end up with some odd descriptions, for example:

{Snailbeach}{Lead}{Silver}{Barite}{Mine}

In simple terms, what does one call Snailbeach other than "Snailbeach Mine"?

The problem, I guess, is that the commonly names for some of mines include the mineral type, others don't, eg "Parys Copper Mine" and "Snailbeach Mine".

I'm not sure there's an easy answer!

Hello again darkness, my old friend...

Mr Mike
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

14 years ago

#19

As always, what seems a 'simple' physical world request, tends to be a lot harder, well maybe the wrong word, but not as easy to do in the software world.

Mr Mike www.mineexplorer.org.uk

Vanoord
54.4% (Neutral)
Newbie

14 years ago

#20

To add to the complexity, it's worth noting that the albums are named after the mine's name but not the mineral type or the description, for example:

{Croesor} {User Album}

rather than

{Croesor} {Slate} {Mine} {User Album}

The alphabetic list-out works the same way, incidentally.

I fear it all comes down to a need to put the mines/quarries into a database - it won't fit all, never mind how you work it.

I doubt we could all agree on a way of describing Snailbeach in plain text (ie does it have to include a mineral type?), so we've got no hope of creating a method of sorting things into a database that works for all cases!

Hello again darkness, my old friend...