Botallack Mines

Botallack, St Just, Cornwall, England, UK

Botallack Mine is a combined mine sett which included various smaller mines and shafts exploited for tin and copper ores.

The earliest evidence of workings at the site are 1721, and the site was worked off and on until 1914.

Specimens from this site may be marked as Botallack Mine, or any of the smaller mines and shafts which were consumed by the larger workings, including:

  • Allens Shaft
  • Boscawen Diagonal Shaft
  • Wheal Bal (possibly known as Zawn a Bal)
  • Wheal Button
  • Wheal Carnyorth
  • Wheal Botallack
  • Wheal Cock
  • Wheal Crowns
  • Wheal Hazard
  • Wheal Hen
  • Wheal Parknoweth
  • Wheal Tolvan

 

Obviously, specimens collected from dump sites may be labelled as the site they are closest to, or as ‘Botallack Mine’ as the collector isn’t sure.

Mindat lists nearly a hundred minerals from the site, including a range of ores of arsenic, bismuth, copper, iron, tin, and uranium. The National Trust claims the mine produced around 14,500 tonnes of tin, 20,000 tonnes of copper, and 1500 tonnes of arsenic.

 

Further reading

 

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