Mark Hickton's enquiry raises a very interesting line of enquiry with
regard to westcountry cobalt production. There were a number of recorded
occurrences of cobalt ores of varying quality in the Cornwall & Devon mines
e.g.. Wheal Sparnon, Trugoe (St Columb), Huckworthy Bridge mine (Sampford
Spiney), Dolcoath, St Austell Consols. There were other (presumably minor)
occurrences in association with bismuth and silver ores e.g. Wheal Herland,
tin ores e.g. Wherry Mine and copper ores Gwennap. I have also found traces
of cobalt in the Marazion mines, Emma & Brookwood (Buckfastleigh) and at
Wheal Friendship (Marytavy).
Clearly small quantities of cobalt ores were widespread in the Cornubian
orefield, mostly occurring in some late-stage N-S crosscourses usually
enriched near their junction with E-W tin/copper lodes.
There are numerous references to these occurrences, but I have never found
any real evidence of substantial sales of the ores, so Mark Hickton's
research is of considerable interest. I would be very interested to know
which mines were recorded as selling ores to the Stoke on Trent refinery,
in what quantities and at what dates, as I do not think there is any
published assessment of the extent of the sale and marketing of this
interesting by-product of westcountry mining.
Interestingly the trade was foreshadowed by a reference in Wm Borlase's
Natural history of
Cornwall (1758) p130
"In the year 1754 the Society at London, for encouraging arts and useful
discoveries, thought proper to offer a praemium(sic) of thirty pounds for
the best cobalt discovered in England; and a discovery of this kind being
made in the lands of Francis Beauchamp,Esq; in Gwenap(sic), the mineral
found was sent to London in December 1754, and honoured accordingly with
the praemium; and as the different arsenicks, as well as zaffer and smalt,
(of great use for staining glass blue and painting in oil-colours) are
procured from cobalt, and hitherto imported at great price from foreign
countries, it is wished that this discovery may be compleated, and, by
keping our money at home, be of use to the nation in general, as well as
profit to Cornwall in particular.At present the Cornish are entirely to
seek for the method of assaying, and even distinguishing critically the
cobalt from its various mixtures in the mine; and till the cobalt is
selected it will probably be of little value. In the same load (sic) there
is a good deal of bismuth, not only where the cobalt is but so prevailing
in other parts of the mine, that it may justly be called a mine of bismuth
as of cobalt ......"
In 1798 William Jenkin, writing with regard to the discovery of silver at
Wheal Herland, stated:
"we don't know so much in Cornwall as we ought respecting metals of any
kind except tin and copper - and I have long been apprehensive that we have
overlooked many sorts of valuable ores for want of experience."
"The silver is blended (as I think) with cobalt,bismuth and spathic iron"
With regard to Wheal Sparnon at Redruth there is a surface plan and a good
historical description in A.K.Hamilton Jenkin's Mines and |Miners of
Cornwall Pt.3 (1962) pp19-23 of which the following is a summary:
In 1765 it was a relatively large and important mine, but closed in 1768.
Proposals to reopen it in 1798 came to nothing, but it was reopened in 1810
and was soon about paying costs.A notice of sale of a 1/64 share advertised
in the Royal Cornwall Gazette on 23 June 1810 indicated that the mine was
producing about 300 tons of copper ore every two months. This was
"exclusive of cobalt, a valuable and scarce demi-metal (hitherto imported)
which is expected to be produced in such abundance as to supply in great
measure the demand of the Country, it not having been discovered in any
considerable quantity in any other mine."Hamilton Jenkin comments "this is
probably the earliest reference to the well-known occurrence of cobalt in
the western cross-course of the mine, it would appear that these ores had
already been worked for at least two years previously. in the Redruth Poor
rate Accounts (1810 -1815) a charge was levied on Lord Clinton for arrears
of dues of Cobalt from Easter 1808 to Easter 1814 - ?75 ... it is clear
that cobalt had become a product of some importance by that time.
After a brief stoppage in late 1810, by 1814 the mine was again working,
when " the cobalt ore is of superior quality, two tons of which have lately
been Sent to London, valued at ?600 per ton. The lode cannot be wrought to
effect until a shaft which is now sinking is holed on it which will be done
in two or three months when great quantities will be raised".Under the
heading of Wheal Sparnon and Corner Stone Cobalt Mines, the West Briton
commented " these mines were originally worked for copper and tin only, in
which metals they are acknowledged to be very rich. in driving from one
level to the other the miners cut into a large and valuable cobalt lode.
The present adventurer raised about 80 tons of that valuable mineral in
little better than twelve months,a part of which was sold for ?240 per ton.
The adventurers being desirous of ascertaining the value of this article
and having a very considerable stock of cobalt ore by them, determined to
stop the mines until such time as they had smelted the ore and produced the
pure oxide therefrom; for which purpose , part of the adventurers formed
themselves into a Company in order to further this object. The result has
fully justified their most sanguine expectations, about ?4000 worth of the
oxide having been sold to the potters in the last twelve months."By 1819
work on the cobalt lode was being conducted at the 32,40,45,50,60 and
eventually, the 70 fathom levels, and by 1826 the mine was being operated
solely for its cobalt ore, the only Cornish mine on record to have done so
exclusively for that mineral.On 22 May 1826 Stephen Davey wrote " The cost
for March and April will be high, Mr Hinde having gone to pretty much
expense in his preparation of the cobalt works". on 24 January 1827 he
wrote again " Mr Hinde talks of setting out for next week to Staffordshire
to effect sales of cobalt from Wheal Sparnon. He has prepared for sale
about ?600 worth and hopes to have about the same amount by the end of next
month"(S.Davey letter books - Cornwall Record Office). By the latter part
of 1827 however the mine and its neighbour Pednandrea were reported to be
working at a combined loss of about ?200 per month and Davey considered
that they should be stopped, which in point of fact they were soon
afterwards."
Later re-workings of the Pednandrea mine between 1864 and 1891 resulted in
very little underground work in the Wheal Sparnon sett.
Sorry this is such a long reply but I think the fascinating tale and its
connections with Mark's research warrant this much detail.
Best wishes
Owen
-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Claughton [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 16 May 2001 22:27
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Cobalt
>From: "Mark Hickton" <[log in to unmask]>
>
>I am currently working on a piece of research on the history of cobalt
refining up here in Stoke-on-Trent. As you may know this is a key raw
material in the manufacture of blue and white printed pottery. One of the
earliest companies operating in the area was The British Cobalt Smelting
Company who in the early 19th century were importing cobalt ores from
Cornwall. One of the mines that keeps cropping up in the literature as a
major British source of cobalt is Wheal Sparnon.
>
>Do you have any information on this mine, or on cobalt ore mining in
Cornwall in general? Any help or advice would be gratefully received.
>
>regards
>
>Mark Hickton
______________________________________________
Peter Claughton, Blaenpant Morfil, Rosebush, Clynderwen,
Pembrokeshire, Wales SA66 7RE.
Tel. 01437 532578; Fax. 01437 532921; Mobile 07831 427599
University of Exeter - Department of History
School of Historical, Political and Sociological Studies
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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