Restronguet Creek Mine, Penpol, Feock, Cornwall, England, UKi

Regional Level Types
Restronguet Creek Mine	Mine
Penpol	Hamlet
Feock	Civil Parish
Cornwall	County
England	Constituent Country
UK	Country

The lower section of the Carnon River Valley. The deposit was accessed by shafts sunk onshore and by iron cased shafts sunk on artificial islands created in the river [Dale Foster info dec. 2013]

Greater detail on the Carnon Alluvials from Dines and other sources:

The tin alluvial tin deposits present in the Carnon Valley / Restronguet Creek were worked before 1800 by creating embankments to hold back the tidal waters and accessed from the surface, however the tide ultimately defeated the embankments, causing the workings to be abandoned.

Between the years 1822 and 1843 the tin bearing gravels were worked by underground methods in two mines, however there are no detailed records of this phase of operation. It is however thought that the surviving wall of an engine house that stands on the beach relates to an operation called Carnon Stream mine.

In 1871 a company called Restronguet Creek Tin Stream Works was formed to work the ground between the two earlier operations.

This operation was described by Taylor (1873) who states that the previous operation were considerably troubled by water as the levels followed the tin bearing layer and did not drain the depressions in the bedrock where richer deposits lay.

At Restronguet Creek Mine, the main level was driven in bedrock some 4.5 fathoms below the tin bearing gravel. Trial borings showed the existence of 1.5 to 4 feet of tin bearing gravel resting on the killas bedrock overlain by 60 feet of mud, which in turn had up to 12 feet of water over it at high tide.

The main shaft, known as Taylors Engine Shaft, was sunk on the beach, below the high watermark just to the south-west of the village of Point. The tidal waters were kept out by a waterproofed wall of 9 inch square timbers. The shaft was sunk to a depth of 18 fathoms from surface, and a deep level driven in a west-south-westerly direction for some 80 fathoms to the middle of the creek.

Iron Shaft, was sunk in the middle of the creek by using a series of cast iron cylinders. The sinking of this shaft was undertaken by using a heavily laden barge to the top of one of the cylinders at high tide and as the tide receded the weight of the barge forced the cylinder into the mud. When finally completed the top of the iron cylinders stood 8 feet above high tide level and 4 feet above the collar of Taylors Shaft, thus giving a natural ventilation circuit.

From Iron Shaft, the deep level was continued for a further 24 fathoms in a south-westerly direction. Above it a another level was driven in the tin gravel with ore passes going down to the deep level.

From each end of the shallow level, two main haulages were driven in the tin ground for 175 fathoms west-north-west along the centre of the channel. At right angles to the haulages, at intervals of approximately 20 fathoms, air levels were driven and extending to around 20 fathoms beyond the haulages, thus blocking out the tin ground for about a 50 fathom width.

Finally, stripping levels were driven from the air levels, parallel to the haulages, every 14 feet. These levels were timbered and lagged when first driven. Afterwards, the lagging was removed, and the tin ground extracted 'stripped' out on either side of these levels.

Geochronology

Geologic Time				Rocks, Minerals and Events
Phanerozoic
	Paleozoic
		Permian
			Guadalupian	ⓘ Major polymetallic mineralization ~270 Ma Cornwall, England, UK
			Cisuralian	ⓘ Porphyry dikes intruded (latest age) ~275 Ma Cornwall, England, UK ⓘ Greisenization (latest age) ~280 Ma Cornwall, England, UK ⓘ Porphyry dikes intruded (earliest age) ~280 Ma Cornwall, England, UK ⓘ Formation of metallized pegmatites ~285 Ma Cornwall, England, UK ⓘ Greisenization (earliest age) ~285 Ma Cornwall, England, UK ⓘ Emplacement of major plutons ~295 Ma Cornwall, England, UK

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality