As St, Ives was fogged out we went a touch further down the North coast to the Geevor Tin Mine . Normally it looks like this.
But yesterday it was like this.
This was a working Tin mine up until it closed in 1990 when the price of Tin no longer made it viable. Now it is a World Heritage site and museum with the majority of the machinery and buildings intact. There is a guided tour that took us through the processing plant, which was used to extract the mineral from the lode, about 0.7% metal to that mined we were told, and then a chance to don overcoats and head underground with our knowledgeable guide Barney.
This was at the start of the tour where we went in about 40 feet, and then waited for a minute I think to check that everyone was comfortable being under the ground with water dripping down the back our necks. In places I had to bend almost double to get under.
This particular working was very old and had nothing to do with the operation that finished twenty odd years ago. This bucket was called a kibble, which I believe is a type of cat food in some parts of the world.
The winding gear used to haul the miners up and down the 2,100 feet to the bottom of the mine. The seams and workings then extended up to 1 mile out to sea, there was approximately 100 miles of tunnels.
Air compressors used to power the tools for the operations at the face, especially the drills, this was a safe way of providing power and fresh air.
Built in Glasgow.
I'm smiling because I'm getting out shortly, the miners did up to 10 hours underground grafting.
On the way out of the washrooms there are photos of all the last miners to work at the mine.
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