May I suggest "King Copper," South Wales and the Copper Trade, 1584-1895,"
by Ronald Rees, published by University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 2000. Rees
says that it was a blast furnace (the first one) that there was ample forest
"around Neath/Swansea" but also outcrops of coal, at least in the early
days.
Best
Helmut Waszkis
-----Original Message-----
From: mining-history [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of
D.R.Poyner
Sent: Friday, November 15, 2002 12:48 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Cornish Copper and the Neath Smelter
Thanks for the comments on the Neath smelter. As an iron master,
Weston would have been very familiar with blast furnace technology,
which might be relevant to whether Neath was a blast or reverberatory
furnace.
As a follow-up question (and displaying my considerable ignorance
about copper smelting), at what stage(s) was coal used in the process?
As I recall, there were several smelting stages after the ore roasting
stage. I think the argument has been that Neath was selected for the
furnace rather than Cornwall due to the proximity of fuel (although
perhaps charcoal supplies were a more important consideration than
coal).
David
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