These would be comparable with the tailings dams which is the method of
disposing of the the vast majority of mineral dressing waste worldwide. Often
they were constructed from waste itself, but sometimes from seperate material
(in the UK such as the modern Cavendish Mill, Wheal Maid and Wheal Jane tailings
dams, and I believe the Chaterhouse dams which I seem to recall have been dated
as Roman).
There is a fair amount of correspondence surviving regarding the tailings dams
at Birch Tor & Vitifer which had to be re-modelled after threats of legal action
for river pollution.
At Polwheveral Creek, Constantine, Cornwall there is an earth dam which has been
given all sorts of weird & wonderful purposes by archaeologists and others, but
I think may have been used as a tailings dam for waste from Wheal Vyvyan, here
to prevent contamination of the Helford River oyster beds.
Traditionally much mine waste ended being discharged into rivers, but where it
didn't the sites provided a ready source of buuilding sand or were often
retreated at a later date (particularly for instance for fluorspar or tin) so
the original sites may not remain today. In Devon & Cornwall there are of course
many remaining or still in use from the china clay industry.
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