Bassett Mines

Basset Mines

Engine House at Wheal Basset Stamps
Industry	Mining
Founded	1896
Defunct	1918
Headquarters	Redruth, Cornwall, England

Basset Mines was a mining company formed in Cornwall, England, by the amalgamation of six copper and tin mining setts. It operated from 1896 until 1918, when it was closed due to a fall in the price of tin.

The Basset mines were to the south of Camborne in the parish of Illogan, on the southeast side of Carn Brea. The company was formed in 1896 when six different mining setts that had been operated from the 1830s were amalgamated.

The South Wheal Frances, West Wheal Basset and Wheal Basset Mines were all worked for copper in the 18th and 19th centuries. South Wheal Frances adjoins the West Wheal Basset to the north, Wheal Basset to the east and Grenville United to the southwest. South Wheal Frances was named for Frances Basset the only child of Francis Basset (1757–1835), first Lord de Dunstanville and Basset. West Wheal Basset was started as a copper mine in 1835. Sixty years later, as part of Basset Mines, it employed 300 men, 90 women and 30 boys. Wheal Basset is another of the mines that have "Basset" in their name, after the Basset family of Tehidy. Between 1815 and 1900 it produced 94,200 tons of 2.5% copper ore and 13,178 tons of black tin.

Most of the shallow workings were exhausted in the 1820s and 1830s. Steam-powered pumps were used to keep the mines dry as the shafts were sunk deeper. By the 1850s the mines employed several thousand men, women and children. The setts that became the Basset Mines were most profitable in the 1850s and 1860s, extracting copper. Production was cut back in the late 1860s when the price of copper declined, and some mines went below the copper lodes for tin. The tin deposits were deeper and the ores harder to dress than copper, and profits were lower. The Great Flat Lode was reached around 1872–74. This is a large tin deposit to the south of Carn Brea that is tilted at an average angle of about 32 degrees. Most lodes tilt at 60 degrees or more so the lode is relatively flat, hence the name.

The Wheal Basset stamps engine house was built in 1868, with an unusual configuration of two separate beam engines. The new stamps at the West Basset Mine were made by the Tuckingmill Foundry. The settling and buddling floor was opened in 1875. An additional buddle floor opened in 1892. Production of tin steadily grew in the second half of the 19th century, and by the 1880s had overtaken copper.