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 as a result of supergene enrichment. It is the type locality for the minerals chenevixite, clinoclase, cornwallite, kernowite and liroconite.
History The production of the mine was very inconsistent because of the sporadic distribution of its rich ore-bodies: in 1833 George Abbot wrotein: An Essay on the Mines of England: Their Importance as a Source of National Wealth that it had made profits of over £300,000, produced 1,400 tons of ore per annum, and ranked third, in terms of profits,in a table entitled: Mines which have been continuously productive, and are still working profitably just behind Dolcoath mine and Consolidated Mines. However, in 1865 Thomas Spargo wroteon page 54 of: The Mines of Cornwall and Devon: Statistics and Observations (online at Google Books) "now part of St. Day United; idle".
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. 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. Much fluorspar was also produced, and gold was reputedly found in the gossan. Records from 1836 show 86 people working at the mine, 53 men, 12 women and 21 children. 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, but by 1864 it had been abandoned.
The mine was reopened in 1906 when Edgar Allen and Company 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.
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. 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.
Mineral Statistics From Robert Hunt's Mineral Statistics of the United Kingdom. +Copper Production (from ticketing records; 1801-1853)Year(s)Ore (Tons)Metal (Tons)Value (£)Comment1801435.0039.803782.75Cu est., 6 months only1802639.0063.635411.25Cu est., c 6 months only1803881.0080.548119.83Cu est., c 8 months only18041536.00123.6213531.88Cu est18052242.00164.8122443.80Cu est18062293.00169.9516495.40..18072016.00159.5013857.63Cu partly est18081640.00151.1210515.98Cu est18091198.0078.018185.58Cu est18101395.0087.117822.83..18111485.0082.946411.23..18121438.0081.655695.58..18131102.0076.656384.83..18141937.0086.017007.60..18151394.00102.068221.45Fluorspar sold at copper ticketings not included18161177.0085.745402.05Fluorspar sold at copper ticketings not included18171077.0084.086479.90Fluorspar sold at copper ticketings not included18181491.00110.7511288.85Fluorspar sold at copper ticketings not included18191611.00124.1311427.40..18201568.00138.9011363.73..18211203.00105.467806.60..18221412.00144.9111229.63..18231386.00127.3410432.48..18241769.00150.9612604.23..18252180.00155.2015059.80..18262986.00241.8317943.00Fluorspar not included18272847.00214.5216455.73Fluorspar not included18282885.00201.8015606.30Fluorspar not included18292190.00161.4711974.30Fluorspar not included18302099.00164.0511507.73Fluorspar not included18311158.00100.696966.85Fluorspar not included18321238.00108.708163.05..18331771.00107.018357.83..1834953.0075.935913.60..1835796.0070.535369.18..1836684.0061.805949.95..1837576.0050.943785.08..1838477.0042.593362.03..1839503.0045.963414.15..1840457.0042.743510.75..1841354.0030.562739.83..1842598.0043.303268.35..1843581.0039.702833.40..1844444.0032.212288.20..1845366.0023.111652.43..1846144.009.96676.98..185193.008.19571.85From Mineral Statistics185227.001.90160.40From Alfred Jenkin's tables18538.000.4246.80.. +Tin Production (1888-1919)Year(s)Black (Tons)Stuff (Tons)Value (£)1888no-details....188913.00308.00660.001890..439.00624.001891..167.00200.001892..60.0052.001893no-details....1898..154.0066.001899..25.0070.001900..14.0013.0019085.90..406.00190911.90..851.00191013.00..1,430.0019113.00..327.0019170.25..64.0019180.45..84.001919no-details.... +Arsenic Production (1874-1919)Year(s)Ore (Tons)Value (£)18745.305.00187612.3052.001893no-details..19064.0022.00190717.00353.00190824.00197.00190956.60497.00191015.0090.00191116.0084.001918no detailed return.. +Tungsten Production (1899-1918)Year(s)Ore (Tons)Value (£)189920.506.00190626.702,025.00190729.403,620.00190836.802,334.00190970.506,051.00191034.002,924.00191111.001,158.0019170.60109.0019180.2525.00 +Employment (1888-1918)Year(s)TotalOvergroundUnderground18887..7188916115189014113189161518923121898-18992..219001..1190524204190654371719078051291908885929190999544519106639271911-191261362519162..219172..219182..2
See also
Mining in Cornwall and Devon Consolidated Mines Poldice mine Wheal Jane
References