What is a mine ? Confused - you will be.
One of the considerable problems is that the concept or definition of a
'mine' (and indeed 'quarry') changed over time and in relation to the
particular aspect of a 'mine' that was being considered.
Historically, the rule of thumb was that a mine had a working face not open
to the sky whilst a quarry was anything else. What was being removed from the
ground was irrelevant except that materials used mined could still be
'mined' even if the extraction site was open eg opencast coal mines. Hence
ironstone could be quarried or mined depending on whether it was to be use as
stone or iron ore. Salt 'mined' by the pressure solution method was neither
mined nor quarried. A previous contributor has listed some of the case law
(unfortunately without the correct referencing) which resulted to determine
individual issues.

The difference between mines and quarries is significant in determining which
set of rules applied and hence what sort of records were engendered. Quarries
were subject to far less stringent legislation even after the 1894 Quarries
Act.

>From the middle ages the Crown exercised a prerogative right not only to gold
and silver mines, but also to any other mines - in practice those producing
copper, tin, iron or lead - where gold and silver were found. In 1688 royal
rights to the latter category were revoked by the important Mines Act of that
year, but duties on the ores produced there continued to be levied in the
same way as from the many mines in Crown ownership. The Exchequer, and then
the auditors of Land Revenues and their successors, administered royal mines
and quarries.
No state control was exercised over mines and quarries in private hands until
the mid-nineteenth century, when inspectors of mines were appointed under the
Home Office. The Board of Trade had oversight of the industrial and economic
aspects of mining, and the Mines Department, constituted in 1920, was under
its aegis. In 1942 the new Ministry of Fuel and Power inherited Home Office
and Mines Department functions in respect of mines and quarries, but other
departments also continued to exercise a variety of powers: the Board of
Inland Revenue, for example, collected mineral rights duties, the Board of
Trade and the Ministry of Works retained responsibility for the quarrying of
certain materials, the Ministry of Labour handled certain questions of
industrial relations and health, safety and welfare, and the Ministry of
National Insurance assessed and allocated compensation for industrial
diseases.
The Town and Country Planning Act 1947 brought in new controls over the
extraction of minerals, involving a review of existing workings and the
requirement of planning permission for new ones. The system was implemented
by local authorities under the supervision of the Ministry of Town and
Country Planning.
Because of their economic and political significance, coal mines were kept
closely under State control during the First World War. Coal deposits were
brought into public ownership in 1938 and the whole industry was nationalised
in 1946.

Current legislation

Somewhat simplistically, mines have three aspects. Firstly, the planning
process whereby they are allowed. Secondly , the actual operation of a mine
and its associated machinery. Thirdly, the afteruse of a mine. A particular
site can incorporate all three aspects at one time.
The current definition of a mine by the Town & Country Planning (General
Permitted Development) Order 1995 s 1 (2) (c) mine = any site on which mining
operations are carried out; mining operations = the winning and working of
minerals in, or on or under land, whether by surface or underground working
mineral is not defined but the earlier Town & Country Planning Act 1990 s336
does not define mines but defines minerals (1)(c) all substances of a kind
normally worked for removal by underground or surface working except that it
does not include peat cut for purposes other than sale. Other legislation
excludes fluid materials and peat from this section.
However sites that received planning consent under the 1947 TCPA (IDO's) and
which may not yet be in operation, come under the old legislation.
Once an extraction site is actually in operation it becomes subject to the
Mines & Quarries Act and the vast array of environmental legislation.
It goes without saying that the above is a simplified explanation and that
there are exceptions to every rule stated- after we are talking 'law' here !
 The current tendency of legislation is not to define mines but to
incorporate them within a more general framework of abiotic resource
management, which is the current EU/EC approach to the situation i.e. the
effect on the environment is the primary concern.

the PRO website www.pro.gov.uk has an on-line guide to the records of mines
and quarries as well as the on-line catalogue.
The above for necessities of space over simplifies matters
J Greenwood


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