Does anyone have any info about any explorable passage at "The Conqueror" branch between Sithney & Breage near Helston. The opencast is very overgrown & probably needs SRT to enter & exit safely, but I have heard talk of good coffin levels there The visible levels at the eastern end of the pit look impressive but is any access possible ?  Thanks.

Hi Twiglet

I've been in there.  They are old levels (probably 18th century, which is old for this part of the world) but they don't extend very far, being random meanderings on a few unproductive strings.  If you want to do something more interesting there are a few workings in the coast nearby which are more extensive.  I'll give you info and grid refs if you're interested.

Thanks Gus, that would be most appreciated.Do you know of any cavers (mine explorers) who would accept a mendippy visitor on an occasional trip. I usually get down to Cornwall 2 or 3 weeks a year but not in the main emmet season !

Twiglet, I'd be happy to do a few trips with you if you feel like coming down this way.  You'll have to get hold of a spare set of lights though as mine are currently fcuked and unlikely to be replaced for a while.  In the meantime I'll post some grid refs and brief descriptions of some of the mines near Wheal Fortune.

Thats O.K. I have all my own caving equipment. I probably wont be down in Kernow until October maybe we can do a trip then ?

That's typical - I'm in Norfolk for two weeks in October.  I'll let you know the dates when I get round to getting the other bits of info together.

There's a couple of interesting mines to the west of Praa Sands at Keneggy Beach (watch the tides):

Speedwell Mine is at the west end of the beach.  There's two adits at beach level. One is short but the other goes for a fair way as a silted crawl in places.  Above these two and just below the coast path is an overgrown cutting with a level at the end.  This is a meandering tunnel which descends into the side of an impressive shaft which I couldn't descend due to a lack of belays - the rock is very weak here.

Wheal Speed is at the eastern end of the beach, after a short scramble over rocks, where a lot of water comes out of an obvious adit.  This is a crosscut which leads to a shaft where the walls are liberally covered in green and blue copper carbonates.  A short level goes right but the main way is left along a lode which eventually opens into a stope up to daylight with numerous stemples jammed across it.  the level continues and becomes arduous due to the amount of ochreous mud.  I got to a point where the mud was chest deep with about a foot of airspace which was filled with red and black stals.  Theoretically the adit should extend a considerable distance further into workings in other mines but was becoming ridiculous to explore.

I think I have been to the entrance of wheal speed adit...an impressive red carpet of ochre and a large stream emerging but  an awkward slippery climb to enter?Maybe we could do a trip there sometime in the future.On a different track, what is the news of the project to restart mining at South Crofty ?

twiglet said:

I think I have been to the entrance of wheal speed adit...an impressive red carpet of ochre and a large stream emerging but  an awkward slippery climb to enter?Maybe we could do a trip there sometime in the future.On a different track, what is the news of the project to restart mining at South Crofty ?

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Sounds like the right adit.  I don't mind going there again.

Regarding South Crofty, the owners, Baseresult, are currently locked in a legal battle with the South West Regional Development Agency over a compulsory purchase order issued by the latter in late 2006.  They have accused Baseresult of dragging their heels and not coming up with a proper plan of action for the site ( former proposals by Baseresult were to fill the old workings with power station fly ash, open the site as a heritage centre, presently it's to resume tin mining)  Baseresult have been distributing leaflets around the area, advertising the fact that they've had injections of cash to the tune of £5 million private (emphasis on "private") funds over the past 5 years and have bought "hundreds of thousands of pounds" of second-hand equipment from Wheal Jane (still in situ).  The compulsory purchase order reflects the SWRDAs frustration at a lack of progress at the mine; they want the land for a leisure complex because the existing one at Carn Brea is gradually subsiding into old shafts.

My own view about the resumption of mining at South Crofty is one of scepticism.  £5 million sounds like a fair amount of money but, considering that the company want to recommence sinking an incline, would actually be peanuts.  Current estimates at reopening a mine such as S Crofty and bringing it into production average about £25 million at present, and that's without sinking a horrendously expensive new access to the workings.

So there you have it - stalemate, punctuated by the occasional publicity event.