Mine contained a lot of pyrite, which might have been marketable if nearer a sea port. Lewis Morris’ account:
There is a vast Quantity of Marcasite (pyrite) in this work, and it shoots into Chrystals of Copperas by the very heat of ye Sun, but it is of very little value here being so far from the Sea. The waste of this mine is worked over and over to profit. Every eight or ten years the Marcasite being dissolved by ye Rains and Heat of the Sun Suffers the Ore to be disengaged…
Fenced off remains of whim shaft, hummocks for leaching sulphur rich ores, open cuts and hollow marking Waller’s 1705 adit.
Oldest of a series of mines often worked together with Ystum Tuen, Penrhiw, Bwlchgwyn and Llwynteifi.
| Year | Activity |
|---|---|
| 1705 | Ystum Tuen taken over by Governor and Company of Mine Adventurers under William Waller. Struggled due to remoteness. |
| 1727 | Operations cease, and mine floods. |
| 1746 | Flintshire company sinks whim shaft to intersect lode at bottom of mine. |
| 1806 | Worked by Sir Thomas Bonsall. Lack of water for pumping was a major obstacle. |
| 1824 | Deep Adit from the Rheidiol Valley started by Thomas and George Alderson, although not from lowest available point. |
| c 1824 | Aldersons become bankrupt after spending a large amoun on the deep adit. |
| 1844 | Ystum Tuen, Penrhiw and Gwaithgoch operated at the Nanteos Mines by the Taylors for a short time. |
| c1850-c1880 | Acticity centred around Aldersons Adit that had met the lode after 234 fm, 78 fm below surface. |
| 1874 | Deeper adit driven to cut the lode 118fm below surface. |
| 1900-1912 | Mined for substantial quantities of blende. |
External Links
Publications (10)
- (1848); BGS - Memoirs Vol II, Part II; 425 pages
- (1922); BGS - Mineral Resources of GB (c1920s) Vol XX - Lead and Zinc: Cardiganshire & West Montogmeryshire; 242 pages
- Bick, D.E. (1991); Old Metal Mines of Mid-Wales, The; South of Goginan - Part 2; pp. 21-26
- Hughes, Simon J.S. (1971); BSA Proceedings Vol VI, No 46 - Mineral Field of Mid Wales, The; 8 pages
- Hughes, Simon J.S. (1976); Cardiganshire - Its Mines and Miners; 52 pages
- Hughes, Simon J.S. (1988); UK Journal of Mines & Minerals No 5 - Decline of Mining in Mid Wales and Prospects of Revival, The; 10 pages
- Hughes, Simon J.S. (2004); Brief History of the Ystumtuen Mines, A; 18 pages
- Liscombe & Co (1880); Mines of Cardiganshire, Montgomereyshire & Shropshire; 52 pages
- Murchison, J.H. (1869); Lead Mines as an Investment; 34 pages
- Nancarrow (1919); Nancarrow Cardiganshire Report; 21 pages
