The mine was working a series of ENE-trending, flat dipping lodes hosted in metamorphosed killas. The sett is traversed by an elvan dyke, which was highly impregnated with sulphide ores in some places. The main ore bodies were those on Winter's lode and Chacewater lode, located in the hanging wall and footwall, respectively, of the elvan, and Hodge's lode, located in the footwall of Chacewater lode. They were worked from shafts arranged in two lines about 100 yards apart, which can still be identified in the field. Wheal Vor lode, south of the elvan, was worked from some shafts close to the Redruth-Chacewater road. The other lodes, on which only little work was done, are located north of the elvan and trend roughly parallel to it.
For some time, the mine was operated as Great Wheal Busy United Mine and included Hallenbeagle Mine, Great North Downs Mine, and other small mines in the area. It was already active in 1718, and was first worked for copper, but there are no records of its early production. From 1815 to 1870, it produced large quantities of copper, the bulk of which was raised before 1856 when the mine was 100 fms below Deep Adit level. In that year, the workings were sunk another 40 fms, and tin and copper ores were produced during the next ten years. Later, it was worked mainly for arsenic. In the early 20th century, the dumps were worked over for arsenic and wolfram. Numerous shafts and spoil heaps are located in a large area north of the road from Redruth to Chacewater. There are also remains of a calciner, some engine houses and a smithy.
References:
- Dines, H.G. (1956): The metalliferous mining region of south-west England. HMSO Publications (London), Vol. 1, pp. 389-391.
- Embrey, P.G., and Symes, R.F. (1987): "Minerals of Cornwall and Devon", p. 51
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UK OS Grid Reference: SW738447
Map Reference: 50°15'29"N , 5°10'26"W
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Mineral List:15 entries listed. 11 valid minerals.
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