Geevor Tin Mine Gallery 4. This is the final page of outside images. Many of the photographs below are of structures now removed from site for safety reasons. Some of my favourite images of the site are on this page, I wish I had taken more.
Once again Bob Orchard has supplied much of the information.
Geevor Tin Mine Gallery 4.1 – The Bulk Storage Bin for run of mine ore and crushed material brought in from dumps. Also in the foreground is the remains of a GTU (Gravity take-up unit) for keeping the conveyor belt tensioned.Geevor Tin Mine Gallery 4.2 – A closer image of the conveyor. This transported ROM (run of mine) ore from multiple draw points and feeders in the floor of the bin. Then conveyed into the Washing Plant.Geevor Tin Mine Gallery 4.3 – This is the Sheepbridge crusher house. But the actual gyratory crusher was just in front of building in a pit below the steel beam. The beam had chain block so that the crusher bowl/mantle could be lifted and taken to be worked on.Geevor Tin Mine Gallery 4.4 – This is the top of the “Cement road” that runs down between the back of the mill and the Slimes plant. To right is the Sheepbridge crusher pit. The dilapidated wooden structure housed a revolving screening trommel. The tall concrete storage bin was for crushed mineral bearing fine gravel also was a surge bin feeding the Newell Dunsford ball mill.Geevor Tin Mine Gallery 4.5 – The building in foreground housed two pumps.
A “Pearn” pump also a multi stage pump that was always referred to as the “Crofty” pump, as it had come second hand from South Crofty. The building was known as the “pump man’s cuddy” here, the surface pump men were based.
The surface pump men also looked after the 3rd level pump at adit level. The building was over the top of a large water tank, water was pumped from here up to the “Round Tank” next to Victory head frame.
Geevor Tin Mine Gallery 4.6 – This certainly was a great chance for industrial photography.Geevor Tin Mine Gallery 4.7 – Another view of the same building, all these have been since removed.
The wooden structure housed a revolving screening tromel. I (Bob Orchard) remember one night there was a gale blowing, the mill stopped briefly and the wind twisted the inclined conveyor over.
Then the mill started again and the material that should have gone to the screening tromel was being tipped onto the cement road. As it was such a foul night no one was going outside until morning. By this time the road was under a huge pile of gravel.
Geevor Tin Mine Gallery 4.8 – The building to right housed the Newell Dunford ball mill and associated vibrating screens.Geevor Tin Mine Gallery 4.9 – An image of the rear of miners dry, with “Deads” conveyor. This brought waste non-mineralised rock from cross cutting or shaft sinking from Victory Shaft.Geevor Tin Mine Gallery 4.10 – Slimes Plant to the left, & “Thomas’s tank” to right (Known as Thomas’s tank because it was constructed by E . Thomas & Co contractors from Ponsanooth). The two conical devices on the top edge of the tank in the foreground are water level sensors. Pump man’s cuddy over the top of the tank, tin floors to the right. The pipes in mid air convey low grade tin concentrate from the slimes plant to the tin floors.Geevor Tin Mine Gallery 4.11 – This is the Reject Gravel conveyor from the Heavy media separation plant.Cornish Mine Images 4.12 – An image of the same conveyor from the other side.Cornish Mine Images 4.13 – This, and most the conveyors on the site have since been removed.Cornish Mine Images 4.14 – The Fine Ore storage bin taken a few years later, by this time the Timber Roof structure had been removed for H & S reasons.Cornish Mine Images 4.15 – The “Bone Yard”. In the foreground are the remains of two hand winches, these many years earlier had been used on the “Bridgeworks” shaft project. You can see the scrapie’s did not handle things gently.
Walking down the site to the area occupied by the Levant Mine Dressing Floors.
Cornish Mine Images 4.16 – The remains of processing floors at Levant Mine at the bottom of the site. To the left can be seen Victory Shaft headframe, the tin floors & the heavily buttressed storage bay for suphide residues.Cornish Mine Images 4.17 – A final image of Geevor Mine.
Victory shaft framed nicely by the building remains, the huge gravel pile from the mill is on the left side of the image. The pile of consisted of minus 6mm gravel, was a product of the screened non mineral bearing product from the HMS (Heavy Media Separation plant). This material was very popular with builders for bedding pipes etc). It was also used by Leswidden concrete block works.
After the mine closed we had a problem with subsidence at Thorn shaft (which went down to 3rd level (adit level) & below, unfortunately the gravel pile was over the top of it and a huge amount of it to be moved to find and cap Thorn shaft. At adit level a steel frame was installed to mitigate any chance of a blockage. The pile I (Bob Orchard) also used to “hide” things in from scrapies and souvenir hunters.
