The responses to the initial enquiry by Iain Wright, on the mining carried
out by Canadian army engineers in support of the Home Ores department
during the 2nd World War, has highlighted the diversity of the work. We
might, however, question how effective it was in identifying, and bringing
into production, new sources of minerals. Preliminary investigation on the
response to the restrictions placed on the supply of iron ores to the
British iron and steel industry during the conflict suggest that the result
was at best marginal; and that new production came from the expansion of
existing, rather than new, resources (see
http://www.exeter.ac.uk/~pfclaugh/mhinf/newtech.doc).
Some strategic minerals required in bulk were never going to be supplied
from UK sources. The increased demand for chromite, for example, was met by
opening up deposits in west and southern Africa. But what was the result of
the Home Ores department's work on the production of tin and tungsten ores
in the UK ?
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Dr Peter Claughton,
Blaenpant Morfil, nr. Rosebush, Clynderwen, Pembrokeshire, Wales SA66 7RE.
Tel. +44 (0)1437 532578; Fax. +44 (0)1437 532921; Mobile +44 (0)7831 427599
Hon. University Fellow
School of Historical, Political and Sociological Studies (Centre for South
Western Historical Studies)
University of Exeter
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/
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