Wheal Gorland was a metalliferous mine located just to the north-east of the village of St Day, Cornwall, in England, United Kingdom. It was one of the most important Cornish mines of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, both for the quantity of ore it produced and for the wide variety of uncommon secondary copper minerals found there[1] as a result of supergene enrichment.[2] It is the type locality for the minerals chenevixite, clinoclase, cornwallite, kernowite[3] and liroconite.[4]

Wheal Gorland
Liroconite from Wheal Gorland, its type locality
Location
Wheal Gorland is located in Cornwall
Wheal Gorland
Wheal Gorland
Location in Cornwall
LocationSt Day
CountyCornwall
CountryEngland
Coordinates50°14′30″N 5°11′02″W / 50.2417°N 5.1839°W / 50.2417; -5.1839
Production
ProductsCopper, tin, arsenic and tungsten
History
Opened1792, 1906
Closed1864, 1909

History

edit

The production of the mine was very inconsistent because of the sporadic distribution of its rich ore-bodies: in 1833 George Abbot wrote[5] that it had made profits of over £300,000, produced 1,400 tons of ore per annum, and ranked third, in terms of profits,[6] just behind Dolcoath mine and Consolidated Mines. However, in 1865 Thomas Spargo wrote[7] "now part of St. Day United; idle".[8]

In the early 1790s Wheal Gorland was connected to the Great County Adit and its own existing shallow adits were adapted to drain into this deeper adit.[1] Records show that between 1815 and 1851 the mine produced 40,750 tons of 7½% copper ore, 15 tons of black tin, and 18 tons of arsenic.[9] Much fluorspar was also produced, and gold was reputedly found in the gossan.[9] Records from 1836 show 86 people working at the mine, 53 men, 12 women and 21 children.[10] In 1852 the mine was taken over by the St. Day United Group of mines and it became the main site for maintenance of the Great County Adit,[1] but by 1864 it had been abandoned.[8]

The mine was reopened in 1906 when Edgar Allen and Company[1] reworked the stopes and the dumps for tin and tungsten ores. It sold 164 tons of tungsten ore and 18 tons of black tin before closing, for the last time, in 1909.[9]

Since 1988 the site has been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest because of the variety and quality of lead and copper minerals that have been found in the mine dumps.[11] A condition summary compiled on 21 July 2010 reported that the site was in an ″unfavourable declining condition″ because growth of scrubland vegetation was encroaching on to the waste dumps and hindering future excavations in search of minerals for scientific study. The summary further states that the vegetation on the remaining mine dump may also be affecting the minerals themselves, as formation of new soil horizons could affect chemical processes within the dump.[12]

Mineral Statistics

edit

From Robert Hunt's Mineral Statistics of the United Kingdom[13].

Copper Production (from ticketing records; 1801-1853)
Year(s) Ore (Tons) Metal (Tons) Value (£) Comment
1801 435.00 39.80 3782.75 Cu est., 6 months only
1802 639.00 63.63 5411.25 Cu est., c 6 months only
1803 881.00 80.54 8119.83 Cu est., c 8 months only
1804 1536.00 123.62 13531.88 Cu est
1805 2242.00 164.81 22443.80 Cu est
1806 2293.00 169.95 16495.40 ..
1807 2016.00 159.50 13857.63 Cu partly est
1808 1640.00 151.12 10515.98 Cu est
1809 1198.00 78.01 8185.58 Cu est
1810 1395.00 87.11 7822.83 ..
1811 1485.00 82.94 6411.23 ..
1812 1438.00 81.65 5695.58 ..
1813 1102.00 76.65 6384.83 ..
1814 1937.00 86.01 7007.60 ..
1815 1394.00 102.06 8221.45 Fluorspar sold at copper ticketings not included
1816 1177.00 85.74 5402.05 Fluorspar sold at copper ticketings not included
1817 1077.00 84.08 6479.90 Fluorspar sold at copper ticketings not included
1818 1491.00 110.75 11288.85 Fluorspar sold at copper ticketings not included
1819 1611.00 124.13 11427.40 ..
1820 1568.00 138.90 11363.73 ..
1821 1203.00 105.46 7806.60 ..
1822 1412.00 144.91 11229.63 ..
1823 1386.00 127.34 10432.48 ..
1824 1769.00 150.96 12604.23 ..
1825 2180.00 155.20 15059.80 ..
1826 2986.00 241.83 17943.00 Fluorspar not included
1827 2847.00 214.52 16455.73 Fluorspar not included
1828 2885.00 201.80 15606.30 Fluorspar not included
1829 2190.00 161.47 11974.30 Fluorspar not included
1830 2099.00 164.05 11507.73 Fluorspar not included
1831 1158.00 100.69 6966.85 Fluorspar not included
1832 1238.00 108.70 8163.05 ..
1833 1771.00 107.01 8357.83 ..
1834 953.00 75.93 5913.60 ..
1835 796.00 70.53 5369.18 ..
1836 684.00 61.80 8639.95 ..
1837 576.00 50.94 3785.08 ..
1838 477.00 42.59 3362.03 ..
1839 503.00 45.96 3414.15 ..
1840 457.00 42.74 3510.75 ..
1841 354.00 30.56 2739.83 ..
1842 598.00 43.30 3268.35 ..
1843 581.00 39.70 2833.40 ..
1844 444.00 32.21 2288.20 ..
1845 366.00 23.11 1652.43 ..
1846 144.00 9.96 676.98 ..
1851 93.00 8.19 571.85 From Mineral Statistics
1852 27.00 1.90 160.40 From Alfred Jenkin's tables
1853 8.00 0.42 46.80 ..
Tin Production (1888-1919)
Year(s) Black (Tons) Stuff (Tons) Value (£)
1888 no-details .. ..
1889 13.00 308.00 660.00
1890 .. 439.00 624.00
1891 .. 167.00 200.00
1892 .. 60.00 52.00
1893 no-details .. ..
1898 .. 154.00 66.00
1899 .. 25.00 70.00
1900 .. 14.00 13.00
1908 5.90 .. 406.00
1909 11.90 .. 851.00
1910 13.00 .. 1,430.00
1911 3.00 .. 327.00
1917 0.25 .. 64.00
1918 0.45 .. 84.00
1919 no-details .. ..
Arsenic Production (1874-1919)
Year(s) Ore (Tons) Value (£)
1874 5.30 5.00
1876 12.30 52.00
1893 no-details ..
1906 4.00 22.00
1907 17.00 353.00
1908 24.00 197.00
1909 56.60 497.00
1910 15.00 90.00
1911 16.00 84.00
1918 no detailed return ..
Tungsten Production (1899-1918)
Year(s) Ore (Tons) Value (£)
1899 20.50 6.00
1906 26.70 2,025.00
1907 29.40 3,620.00
1908 36.80 2,334.00
1909 70.50 6,051.00
1910 34.00 2,924.00
1911 11.00 1,158.00
1917 0.60 109.00
1918 0.25 25.00
Employment (1888-1918)
Year(s) Total Overground Underground
1888 7 .. 7
1889 16 1 15
1890 14 1 13
1891 6 1 5
1892 3 1 2
1898-1899 2 .. 2
1900 1 .. 1
1905 24 20 4
1906 54 37 17
1907 80 51 29
1908 88 59 29
1909 99 54 45
1910 66 39 27
1911-1912 61 36 25
1916 2 .. 2
1917 2 .. 2
1918 2 .. 2

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ a b c d Buckley, J A (2000). The Great County Adit. Pool, Camborne, Cornwall: Penhellick Publications. pp. 55–56. ISBN 1-871678-51-X.
  2. ^ "Camborne School of Mines Virtual Museum - The Cornubian Orefield". University of Exeter. Retrieved 20 June 2009.
  3. ^ "Kernowite: New green mineral discovered in 220-year-old rock". BBC News. 23 December 2020. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  4. ^ "Wheal Gorland, St Day United Mines (Poldice Mines), Gwennap area, Camborne - Redruth - St Day District, Cornwall, England, UK". mindat.org. Retrieved 20 June 2009.
  5. ^ in: An Essay on the Mines of England: Their Importance as a Source of National Wealth
  6. ^ in a table entitled: Mines which have been continuously productive, and are still working profitably
  7. ^ on page 54 of: The Mines of Cornwall and Devon: Statistics and Observations (online at Google Books)
  8. ^ a b "The Mines of Gwennap - Wheal Gorland". Cornwall in Focus. Retrieved 20 June 2009.
  9. ^ a b c Dines, H. G. (1956). The Metalliferous Mining Region of South-West England. Volume I. London: HMSO. p. 408.
  10. ^ Lemon, Charles (1838). "The Statistics of the Copper Mines of Cornwall". Journal of the Statistical Society of London. 1 (2 (June 1838)): 78 (Table XVI).
  11. ^ "Wheal Gorland" (PDF). Natural England. 24 June 1988. Retrieved 29 October 2011.
  12. ^ "SSSI unit information". Natural England. Retrieved 29 October 2011.
  13. ^ Burt, Roger; Burnley, Ray; Gill, Michael; Neill, Alasdair (2014). Mining in Cornwall and Devon: Mines and Men. University of Exeter Press. ISBN 978-0-85989-889-8.