Blasts from the past - archive photos

Aye, here's Simon Hughes in Autumn 1990 at the bottom of the V6 open stope at Calliachar Burn.

We sank that working using compressed air tools to 5.5 metres below rockhead, extracting 6.5 tonnes of ore with an average head-grade of 158 grammes Au per ton. Narrow vein stuff. As you can see, Simon has just lifted a chunk of the ore out of the lode. Pyrite and galena, with all sorts of obscure species too. It was a hellishly wet working - the first two hours of the day involved pumping the water out!

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Royfellows said:
I have the year 1998 floating in head, but could be wrong.
We used to stay at Trevaylor camp site and there was an old fellow I just knew as "Bill" lived in the house on the corner. I bought the St Just district geological map and Levant agents reports off him. I used to spend a lot of time trying to find a way into Wheal Owles. I got into Cargodna Adit OK, its an interesting sort of double drive with a drainage below the main entrance. Dont know whether its still open. Got into Edward as well. But no way into Owles proper.
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The only Bill I recall from those days was Bill Newby. I think Geevor was properly abandoned by then.
 
Groninger Kroon said:
What artefacts remained in Clogau?
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I have one underground photo of a truck without a body taken in 2010, a tresspass visit. If there had been anything else in the adit, I woukld have photographed it. I did not attempt to climb up into the stopes at the end. Adit was still railed.
 
To John Mason

I have very fond memories of Simon
I used to stay with him when working in Alltycrib on the digging projects. It was Simon who planted the idea in my head of digging the Air Shaft, and he was so excited when we broke through. When he was about 13 the adit at y Wern was briefly opened up when the new sewer was being laid. Up to that point it was an open one, actually the old mine leat! Oh Dear. Anyway, he wanted to go in but they would not let him. When the mine was reaccessed I told him that if he wanted to try for the abseil in, I would do all in my power to help him, and he actually got all his kit ready, but I think he had a reality check re his condition.

My worst memory of the project was digging out the culvert at y Wern to drain the mine. It is about 18'' wide by about 3 feet high and I was hitting all kinds of atmosphere. When it broke through there was a flood of water as the mine drained. I later took a photo in there and showed it to the then landowner, the late Valma Jones. The adit cutting had been blocked of by her father when he bought the land and I had always said that he was an astute man and would not of blocked the mine drainage. I was right! he used the same ceramic pipe as the feed to the Pelton Turbine generator he put in that provided electricity to the village.
I also have fond memories of Valma, I used to have tea and cakes with her.
 
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