RE China Clay - There may or may not be any worthwhile Tin deposits in this area, but some areas are being constantly sampled by core drilling. Should they come across any significant lodes, then there could be the possibility of some Tin mining, especially if there are other companies willing to take on the risk.
But I agree it is a big unknown and much of the Tin in that area has been mined. I only mention it because in the recent past the price of Tin was too low and the margins on Clay much better, now things are different. So if something was found, at the very least I expect there will be feasibility studies done.
If a processing plant was set up in the future and the tin price rises in the long term, there must be the possibility to process old spoil heaps as recovery techniques are more effective now. But again this would be a secondary use of any processing plant.
I also believe that we will see more mining in Cornwall in the future rather than less, just a question of when.

---

You are probably correct.

A friend of mine works for metso minerals and like you say just re working the spoil heaps could be feasible. He designs machines that recover minerals and reckons they would be very effective.

Also Crinnis golf course supposedly still has a large amount of copper underneath it

Regarding the statement that Geevor was worked out, the level of proved reserves in the last year of full production was sufficient to continue the then level of tin production for about 3.5 years (the production would have included a small quantity from large quantities of dump material then being milled, and not included in the reserve figure). Proved reserves in this sort of mine are always only a few years ahead of the mill at best. The above figure compares with 2.8 years for the average at Geevor in the early 1960's. In the years of reduced production up to final closure this figure would probably have been reduced, but much production came from pillar recovery and horse back ore, not included in quoted reserves. In 1984-1986 the results of development on immediater prospects were very diasapointing, resulting in a 5% drop in proved reserves. This was not to say that if econmic conditions were good enough for the mine to continue in production better discoveries might not have been made.
The explorations towards Botallack were all made close to the ends of 19th Century workings, and certainly not far enough out from the granite/killas contact to reach the zone
(geologically) of the richest tin ground in Levant, and one must remember the old adage "ore against ore" which must be equally true today. Apparently Geevor were always reluctant to do much exploration beyond Levant because of the limited capacity of Victory Shaft. Lodes such as Boscaswell Downs, Pendeen Consols etc. evidently failed when followed towards the granite margin, but this does not mean there is nothing good there if followed out under the sea.
I think there is a possibility of something being found inland between Levant & Botallack, where there were several lodes very little worked, & places like Carnyorth were only really worked to any extent towards the end of mining in that area, and then work only carried out around single ore bodies. This seems very much a parallel to Boscaswell Downs, where Simms lode was only discovered in the 1960's despite the area being worked for centuries before.
The reopening of Botallack proposed in the 1980's, which only got as far as reopening Allen's Shaft to adit, was with a view to exploring the continuation of the Wheal Owles lodes offshore - these being the third great lode system at St Just (after Geevor/Levant and Botallack) - & must remain an interesting possibility.
Really the only way for mining to resume in the area (and most other Cornish mining areas) would be for a sufficiently good prospect to be identified which could be reached without having to initially get throgh any large old mine - a process normally doomed to failure.
There are certainly other areas in Cornwall which I think have prospects for shallow unworked mineralisation which could support a small mine, based on exploration done in the last years of certain mines, or where improved knowledge of the structural geology could indicate zones near surface missed by 18th century miners. I am keeping exactly where I am thinking of to myself for the moment...
There are also areas such as the SW part of the Lands End granite where there are more old workings than indicated in published sources, perhaps the very edge of a mineralised zone offshore. Of course if such did exist, the likelyhood of it ever getting permission for exploration or mining could be seen as not great. On the plus side, National Trust officials have said they have "no policy" regarding resumption of mining in areas they have acquired.

that all sounds pretty much consistent with what I heard at the time, that a part of the production in the later 80s was essentially 'picking the eyes of the mine' to retrieve known reserves which would compromise future working.

I'd always understood that Geevor contained some reserves, but they were increasingly marginal in terms of confidence, workability and development cost, and there was no viable mining plan under foreseeable market conditions.

working through a large, abandoned mine is always a big problem and usually doesn't work. Hence S Crofty's development of what amounts to a new mine.

I'd be sceptical of NT having 'no policy'.. that can well mean that there is no basis under which any given thing can be agreed.

---

This is an interesting discussion.

I gather the Minerals Authority are quite a large lever indeed. I have read of occurences where they have ridden roughshod over various places. You can always argue that scenery is an important commodity down here (as tourism IS our saviour), not all scenery is mineralised. In the light of a failing country, environmental over-vigilance is a luxury. What is the most important, a temporary interruption of the scenery and wealth generation, or nothing?

Interesting point about Jane and mining resuming in Gwennap being necessary for the viable pumping of Jane. One thing is certain, Kensa will need longer pipes to abstract the heat from the groundwater! I remember Trounson going on about parallel elvan dykes over towards Ponsanooth. Again, even though this is mining district-ish, it would be a while before people looked at this.

So, not much is forcast by you lot to happen in the next 20 years. How about the next 50? It seems the nature of mining is fickle, what with people running around with drill rigs a few years ago. If the price picks up, I suppose it's difficult to ascertain what is likely to happen.

Since the Maid Decline was driven quite recently, I'm also wondering if was still a question about the presence of tin, despite Gwennap being a (largely) copper district. Dines seemed to finalise the "no" answer. Or, perhaps more of a view was emerging to host "metal mines" which just sold what came out of the ground, whether it be zinc, lead, tin or copper.

As an aside, what were the pumping costs of the last few mines. Jane/Wellington, Concord, Geevor and Crofty.

And a total aside....has anyone got a rough comparison between coal burned in a beam engine and the electricity consumed by electrical pumps. It would be interesting to see whether it would be possible to estimate the power required by the prior cylinder size of the steam engine. (Very roughly).

Anyway.....

It would fair to say that Wheal Jane/ Wellington had the highest pumping costs. South Crofty next about half, with Geevor next and Concord last since it had the least amount of water and was the smallest of the operations listed. For a mine that ventured out under the sea Geevor was comparitively dry as were most of the mines in the St Just area. This needs to be compared to those in the Gwennap area which were certainly 'wet'. Those in the Camborne/Redruth area seem to lie somewhere inbetween although some were wetter than others. The Setons were wet, whilst Dolcoath was fairly dry.


To answer Stuey's last point about steam engines and the sizes, I'm working on some stuff and may have an answer in a while.

Regarding reserves in the general sense, I have been informed that Geevor was fairly well worked out and those who I work with who worked there recon that there is not much left in the old bal. The area to the south Botallack etc may hold more mineral if it can be located. For the Gwennap area to be mined once more is going to take more than a slight increase in the price. The amount of water that would have to be pumped out is going to be quite something, its going to be warm and its going to be hazardous to the environment. You also have to add that although reserves of mineral were located down to 20+ level, without some serious thought about the temperature of the air underground, it will not be possible to remove all that heat and miners will not beable to work without some form of refridgeration. Now that would coupled with the cost of pumping mean some serious money, unless we can find some very cheap form of electricity to power it all.

---

Interesting stuff.

By far and away the most interesting area of mining in my book is Gwennap. I'd love to have been going down holes when they were pumping. It sounds incredible.

I wonder how you could overcome the problem of low oxygen, high heat water. If Jane had ore below it, I suppose Welly/Nangiles/Old Jane must have had also. If you are getting down to 20-25 level, you are looking at being somewhere well under Falmouth/Sperries. I gather that Wellington still had old workings from Wheal Magpie under it when it was latterly worked. I wonder if the Maid Decline was in fact a bit more experimental, given the workedoutness of the surrounding countryside. I suppose you could have a centre around Clemows/Sperries and another towards the Wheal Maid decline and then another in the Killifreth/Unity Wood area. (Assuming what Trounson said was true). Obviously this wouldn't happen for the considerable future.

If the lodes in Busy were well into the killas, I'm assuming they didn't just go down into quartz and die out....is there anything under Busy? I assume that North Lode of Killifreth has similar properties in depth in Vor/Busy. (Despite the reworking being largely a failure). Then, I suppose you have North Downs which would be drivable from a centre at Killifreth as well. If they thought on a large enough scale like Crofty, I can't see why it couldn't be achieved.

It all depends where the price is going, I suppose. I can see the £€$ sliding against the Far Eastern currencies in due course, which may gee things up a bit.

I gather that those in the business are likely to be pessamistic for historic reasons, but assuming the price jacks up, it will all have to come out before we jack in our love for it's products.....

When I read Trounson's work, I thought that it sounded a trifle optomistic about re-opening old workings.

it amazes me when you read through some books to read about little lodes here and there, surely easily accesable product such as this shallow and easily worked will be the main hot spots when china gets a bit expensive

---