It seems that stamps tended not to be used at copper mines due to the
brittle nauture of Charcopyrite. If treated like tin, with stamping
followed by a water based classifying system, too much ore was carried
over as fine waste. Manual processing was therefore mainly used and
stamping left for only the most hardest of rocks.
Stamps seems to have been used for the Halvans, these were stamped like
tin and treated on Halvans floors resembling a tin mine's dressing floors.
But, the mine would always attempt to keep the ore going through this
process as small as possible.
On the page
http://www.geocities.com/teammanley/southcaradon/FloorPlan.htm
The bottom plan shows my interpretation of the ore flow on the South
Caradon floors. The Halvan floors lie at the bottom end of the valley
processing the ore from the stamps. The majority of the rock passed
through the upper part of the site only , by-passing the stamps.
The photograph at
http://www.geocities.com/teammanley/southcaradon/BookPhoto.htm
Clearly shows the stamps and crusher with the associated tramways.
|