Possibly of interest; found a small museum a few weeks in a village called Saint Veran (which is the highest village in France populated all year round) about the local copper mine.

The plan shows a typical metal mine over five levels; and a range of information boards about the history, modern operation, mineral processing and some good archive photographs. No idea about access, but if it's possible it would be nice to to try to visit in the summer. The boards listed the numbers of some other local mines where trips can be arranged.

The text should be readable in the supersize versions of the photos.

Information panels

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Plan of the mine

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Preserved ore wagon

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Had a quick read at the 1st one, quite an interesting read about the minerals etc..
Its a pity that countries like France and Spain dont have online mine databases 😞

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Had a quick read at the 1st one, quite an interesting read about the minerals etc..
Its a pity that countries like France and Spain dont have online mine databases 😞

You dropping hints there LAP 😉

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http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://lh3.google.com/_jXUjfUKNIyQ/RtU4a1j6LBI/AAAAAAAAAdg/DJiLQnOIwYE/s800/PICT0280.JPG&imgrefurl=http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/T4t4yYX2GNubePrxBLEQcw&h=600&w=800&sz=141&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=Jy8M8hAXmKOieM:&tbnh=107&tbnw=143&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmine%2Bde%2BSaint%2BV%25C3%25A9ran%2B%26gbv%3D2%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN 

Could this be the location?
looks interesting, but very dry...

The caption beneath the photo translates into: "Mine of copper of Saint Veran" - So it suits the description
Mine pics from abroad? I store my "few" onto disks at the moment, but might put them on fotopic.net in future.

regards

Also found this pic:


http://www.kikourou.net/photos/CRs/2007/CR3217/p6120066_st_veran_mine_cuivre.jpg 

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There are some fantastic mining sites in France - St marie Aux Mines in Alsace with 16th Century remains.

Unfortunately they are very protective of sites and most are gated by the Government and only legitmate archaelogists are allowed.

This will certainly apply to Saint Veran - there are quite severa penalties

Mike

Drat 😞 But thanks for telling me Mike, saves me lugging my SRT kit out there in the summer. There were however a couple of phone numbers for nearby mines that can be visited, one talc and silver mine at Argentiere le Besse, might see if I can sort out a visit to one of them next time.

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Drat 😞 But thanks for telling me Mike, saves me lugging my SRT kit out there in the summer. There were however a couple of phone numbers for nearby mines that can be visited, one talc and silver mine at Argentiere le Besse, might see if I can sort out a visit to one of them next time.

Im sure its possible if you get a permit 1st; if they realise that you,re an experienced individual who isnt bringing truck loads of cavers along as well - they might let you visit. Its best to apply via getting in contact from an experienced explorern over there, perhaps via a caving club.

Thats the trouble with a lot of other europien countries, more land seems to be private. For instance, when in Mallorca we stopped at a working limestone quarry, and I managed to comprehend with one of the workers, who said "no photos".. of course I had already taken about three but I wasnt to know ::)

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There are some fantastic mining sites in France - St marie Aux Mines in Alsace with 16th Century remains.

I'd also recommend the above area -loads of hand picked 'coffin' levels, some with remains of early 'hund' wagon' railways. In the village, there are a number of organized trips to various mines, but not all the levels are gated or locked!

My experience and comments by the French Guy on mining History list - you would be unlikely to get a permit as a caver. Now if you were an archaelogist on a legitimate research.

I went on organised trips in St marie Aux Mines and they were very good but you were with large parties. I do know of one guy who joined the local group and was allowed in certain mines

Mike

there is a mineral show in st marie each june, the whole village becomes a mineral saleground, there are lots of local people who know lots of local people .....maybe ???? mine visits could be on the agenda for the locals being so many "punters" about.

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Hmmm, I'll be in France for a fair chunk of June, but in the wrong part 😞

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