>Have you ever thought that Hammersley might have been wrong?
Mike,
Now, I'm no expert on the detail of all the Mines Royal's operations in the
16th c. but research I have done on the medieval / early modern periods
suggests that silver had quite an influence on the economics of production,
and I've no reason to doubt Hammersley's conclusions. The continued
survival of the Mines Royal's operations against a background of poor sales
of copper would, in itself, suggest they were sustained by something other
than copper.
Shallow, non-argentiferous, deposits in Sweden met most demand for copper in
Europe during the medieval period. What I said about 'German' domination
was in relation to their intervention in mining in England and Wales. There
were brief adventures into copper in England in the medieval period and all
can be linked to silver extraction.
The smelting of copper ores and the saigerprocess, used to extract the
silver, were complex techniques, requiring an input of lead metal as the
means to draw out the silver, easily influenced by external factors. In
particular its viability relied on a high price for both copper and silver
and a low price for lead. During the 16th century those factors included
the release of cheap monastic lead onto the market, a reduced demand for
bronze cannon as they were superceded by cast iron, and the arrival of
Central American silver in large quantities.
Nevertheless, despite rising copper prices, argentiferous copper production
in Europe was in decline by mid century and the Swedes regained dominance.
It was against this background that the Mines Royal/Lakes venture was
initiated and the richer copper ores with, in the case of the Caldbeck ores
at least, a significant silver content must have appeared very attractive.
As Richard has said, there should have been a continuing demand for copper
and, given that some of Henry VIII's purchases on the Netherlands market had
been subject to an embargo, a home source of copper would have had strategic
benefits. There are many questions, political and economic, to be answered
on the Mines Royal ventures in copper mining and I'm sure we haven't heard
the last of it.
Peter
______________________________________________
Peter Claughton, Blaenpant Morfil, Rosebush, Clynderwen,
Pembrokeshire, Wales SA66 7RE.
Tel. 01437 532578; Fax. 01437 532921; Mobile 07831 427599
University of Exeter - School of Historical, Political and Sociological Studies
(Centre for South Western Historical Studies)
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Co-owner - mining-history e-mail discussion list.
See http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/files/mining-history/ for details.
Mining History Pages - http://www.exeter.ac.uk/~pfclaugh/mhinf/
_____________________________________________
|