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How would the landscape differ between these tailings dams and those locations where artisanal mining was carried out by what in South Wales was termed "Scouring", building a dam and then releasing the water behind to scour away the overburden above the mineral? Keith Nicholls -----Original Message----- From: mining-history [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Peter Claughton Sent: 18 January 2011 09:31 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Buddle Dams - Charterhouse (Mendip) At 09:28 18/01/2011, Alasdair Neill wrote: >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 has been the suggestion that the Charterhouse dams, on Mendip in north Somerset, date from the Roman period but that is not supported by the evidence. Material dated to the Roman period has been found in the sediments within the dams but that is to be expected for a dam constructed in the nineteenth century to contain tailings from the reworking of Roman smelting residues (slag). Peter 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 - College of Humanities, University of Exeter http://people.exeter.ac.uk/pfclaugh/about.htm 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.people.exeter.ac.uk/pfclaugh/mhinf/ _____________________________________________ This email has been scanned for viruses by Netshield MXSweep. Geotechnics Limited, Registered in England No. 1757790 at The Geotechnical Centre, 203 Torrington Avenue, Tile Hill, Coventry CV4 9AP www.geotechnics.co.uk