Consolidated Mines
The Wheal Maid area of the mine
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| Location | |
|---|---|
| Location | Gwennap |
| County | Cornwall |
| Country | England |
| Coordinates | 50°14′06″N 5°09′47″W / 50.235°N 5.163°WCoordinates: 50°14′06″N 5°09′47″W / 50.235°N 5.163°W |
| Production | |
| Products | Primarily copper |
| History | |
| Opened | 1782 |
| Closed | 1857 (merged with United Downs in 1861) |
Consolidated Mines, also known as Great Consolidated mine, but most commonly called Consols or Great Consols was a mine about a mile ESE of the village of St Day, Cornwall, England. Mainly active during the first half of the 19th century, its mining sett was about 600 yards north–south; and 2,700 yards east–west, to the east of Carharrack. Although always much troubled by underground water, the mine was at times highly profitable, and it was the largest single producer of copper ore in Cornwall. Today the mine is part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site.
The country rock at the mine was killas and the mine's main produce was copper, though small amounts of black tin, arsenic, pyrite and zinc ore were also raised. There are about eight main lodes at the mine, crossed by elvan dykes. The most important lode was Virgin Lode which was stoped for over 1.3 miles (2.1 km).
Although there had been mining in the area for over 400 years, Consolidated Mines was formed in 1782 by the amalgamation of a number of neighbouring mines including Wheal Girl, West Wheal Virgin, Wheal Virgin, Wheal Maid, Wheal Fortune and Carharrack mine. The underground workings of these mines were interconnected, and before the merger they had been having significant problems with underground water. They were jointly running seven Newcomen engines to pump water from their workings into the Great County Adit, but the engines had been struggling to keep the water levels down and they were so expensive to run that all the mines had closed during 1779.
As part of the merger, five Boulton and Watt engines were ordered to replace the seven Newcomens. The new engines were operational by 1782 and saved almost £11,000 a year on coal, though the mine had to agree to Boulton and Watt's standard terms which included payment of an annual charge (known as "dues") of one third of the fuel saved. In fact the mine negotiated with the company and paid £2,500 each year. In 1784, Boulton and Watt built the first steam whim (winding engine) in Cornwall here, and in 1788 they installed an underground pumping engine on the Wheal Virgin site; this was one of only two underground engines installed in Cornwall before 1850.
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Wikipedia