West Polmear Mine (Carvath United Mine; Carvath Mine; Wheal Change), St Austell, Cornwall, England, UKi

Regional Level Types
West Polmear Mine (Carvath United Mine; Carvath Mine; Wheal Change)	Mine
St Austell	Town
Cornwall	County
England	Constituent Country
UK	Country

A small copper mine, which was first worked in 1785-1789 and restarted in 1801 under the name Wheal Change. In 1803, the water wheel employed was found insufficient to keep the water out of the mine, but the expenses for the installation of a steam engine could not be afforded and the mine had to close in 1804. It then lay idle until 1853 when it was reopened under the name Carvath United Mine and continued operations until 1860. During the early 1860s, parts of the mine were reworked again under the name West Polmear Mine.

The sett, which has now disappeared below the outskirts of St Austell and the A390 road, comprised four SE-trending lodes which were worked from a single shaft to a depth of 38 fms. A crosscut from the shaft connected to all lodes which were then further developed by drives along their strikes in both directions.

The output of the earliest working is not recorded, but in 1801-1804, the mine produced 550 tons of copper ore. Although it is said to have been worked for tin and copper when it was restarted in 1853, the only recorded output for this period is for 112 tons of black tin raised between 1858 and 1860. The output under the name of West Polmear Mine is not recorded.

There are some scanty surface remains, including a row of miners cottages below Eastbourne road, one of which has a capped shaft in the garden, and what is reputed to be a wall of an engine house incorporated into the car repair business on the same road.

Note:
Probably due to mistaking Wheal Change for Wheal Chance, a note in the 1994 reprint of Dines erroneously states that Wheal Chance (a small nickel mine east of St Austell Consols) and Carvath United were the same mine. However, there are no references to support this view, neither contemporary nor modern ones.

Geochronology

Geologic Time				Rocks, Minerals and Events
Phanerozoic
	Paleozoic
		Permian
			Guadalupian	ⓘ Major polymetallic mineralization ~270 Ma Cornwall, England, UK
			Cisuralian	ⓘ Porphyry dikes intruded (latest age) ~275 Ma Cornwall, England, UK ⓘ Greisenization (latest age) ~280 Ma Cornwall, England, UK ⓘ Porphyry dikes intruded (earliest age) ~280 Ma Cornwall, England, UK ⓘ Formation of metallized pegmatites ~285 Ma Cornwall, England, UK ⓘ Greisenization (earliest age) ~285 Ma Cornwall, England, UK ⓘ Emplacement of major plutons ~295 Ma Cornwall, England, UK

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References