Geevor Tin Mine

Useful Information

Location:	Pendeen, Penzance, Cornwall TR19 7EW. From St. Ives follow B3306 coast road west along the northern coast of Cornwall. In Pendeen turn right, signposted. (50.152011, -5.675850)
Open:	APR to OCT Mon-Fri, Sun 9-17, last admission 16, tours 10-16 hourly on the hour. NOV to MAR Mon-Fri, Sun 9-16, last admission 15, tours at 10, 13, 15. [2024]
Fee:	Adults GBP 20.50, Children (4-18) GBP 11.60, Children (0-3) free, Students GBP 11.60, Family (2+3) GBP 63, Seniors GBP 18. [2024]
Classification:	Tin Mine Copper Mine
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:
Guided tours:	self guided, D=2 h.
Photography:
Accessibility:	partly
Bibliography:
Address:	Geevor Tin Mine Museum, Pendeen, Penzance, Cornwall TR19 7EW, Tel: +44-1736-788662, Fax: +44-1736-786059 E-mail: Group Booking, Tel: +44-1736-788662. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

2000 years BP	first evidence of mining.
1791	year cut into the wall of the adit of Wheal Carne.
1883	the Mining Journal mentions Wheal Geevor, a small mine joining North Levant.
1901	Levant North (Wheal Geevor) company formed by miners returned from South Africa due to the Boer War.
1904	West Australian Gold Field invested in the venture and a new company was formed.
1906	mine registered under the name of North Levant and Geevor Limited.
1911	Geevor mine floated as a modern tin mine.
1930	Levant mine closed.
1985	dramatic fall in the price of tin, the Tin Crisis, which caused the closure of the mine.
1990	Geevor tin mine finally closed, the pumps were switched off, the mine flooded.
1993	reopened as a Heritage Centre.
2006	inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Geology

Like all other tin mines of Cornwall the mining followed mineralized gangues in the granite diapir. The veins are called lode in Cornwall. In the underground Wheal Mexico Mine the Mexico Lode was mined.

Description

Geevor Tin Mine is located close to the Cornish coast, the mine with its seven floors is rather deep and reaches far out under the sea. It was mined until late in the 20th century, and so it is a rather modern mine. But as the pump engines were stopped when the mine was closed in 1990, the mine filled with sea water up to sea level. It is today not possible to visit the mine itself, except for a small part of the old underground workings close to the surface.

The surface area around the old headframe is quite interesting. The headframe itself is of impressive size, at its foot are several buildings which are part of the museum. The museum is named Hard Rock Museum, a reference to the mining style which is called hard rock mining. It was newly constructed in 2008 in the formerly empty Top Fitting Shop, where underground locomotives and machinery had been repaired. It shows mining tools and historic documents and pictures. There are many products on display which were made of the tin from Geevor. A 3D model of the mine and a film give an impression of the impressive size of this mine. There is an exhibition of Cornish Mine Images by photographer Simon Jones. The Oral History Archive with recordings of miners telling about the past times is available online only. Rather new is the Crosscut Dispersed Series, an audiovisual installation designed to recreate the noise and darkness of a working mine.

And then there are several former mine building which were restored to their original state forming a sort of mining heritage open air museum. The Winder House contains the engines for the mine elevator. The Compressor House is the location of the compressor. Air under high pressure was transported into all parts of the mine through pipes, where it drove drills, pumps and machinery. The Dry is the place where the miners changed clothes before and after the shift. The Drill Shop is the workshop where the drills and other tools and machinery were maintained. And the mill finally is the place where the ore was sorted, broken into smaller pieces, pulverized in the stamp mills, and finally separated by water. For a long time this was the work of women. All those buildings are accessible self-guided and most areas are even wheelchair accessible.

The actual mine is flooded, but a show mine needs an underground tour. In the early years the Trevithick Trust offered guided tours into Rosevale Mine, which required a 30 minutes bus ride to get there. Later one of the upper levels of the Geevor Mine on site, named Wheal Mexico Mine, was developed as a show mine. This is a small mine typical of the late 18th and early 19th century, and not really represents the 20th century modern tin mine. But it has spectacular geology, with granite and ore veins, namely the Mexico Lode. It has gravel paths, electric light, and they promise that there are no ladders to climb. The entrance to the mine tunnel is lower, follow the paved road from the cafe downhill towards the coast. The underground tours are included with the ticket, but as they are guided there are some restrictions. During the high season guides are on site and guide continually, just check at the ticket office when you arrive to get the next start time. During the rest of the year its necessary to book the time of the tour online before your visit.

While mining at this place started before Roman times, the oldest mine adits here at Geevor are from the late 18th century. But the Levant North (Wheal Geevor) company is rather young, it was founded by Cornish Miners who returned from South Africa due to the Boer War in 1901. They prospected first, which produced satisfactory results, were granted a 50 years lease in 1905 and finally registered the mine under the name of North Levant and Geevor Limited in 1906. They were financed by the West Australian Gold Fields Ltd. In 1911 the company was restructured as Geevor Tin Mines Limited with a capital of £150,000 and worked three mines, North Levant, Geevor and Wheal Carne. The main shaft was started in 1910 and was named after the then chairman of the company Wethered Shaft. Nearby was also Wheal Carne Shaft as second access to the mine. In 1919 the Victory Shaft was sunk 500 m west of Wethered Shaft, the Geevor mill built at the shaft and an aerial ropeway built for transporting ore from Wethered Shaft to the mill. Wethered Shaft was closed in 1944 and the ropeway taken down. Victory Shaft was first sunken to the 5th level of the mine, but later it was deepened and reached a depth of 480 m in 1975.

In the sixties many lodes were worked out, and it was necessary to find new ore bodies, so they investigated nearby mines. Levant Mine had been closed in 1930 due to the World Economic Crisis, and was flooded, but the decision was taken to reopen the mine. During tunneling towards Boscaswell Downs Mine, Simms Lode was discovered. Treweeks, an old shaft of the Boscaswell Downs Mine, was re-opened. Mining continued to a depth of more than 600 m, which was reached from the 15th level at Victory Shaft down a tunnel which was at an angle of 25 degrees below the horizontal. The tunnel was opened by Her Majesty The Queen on 28-NOV-1980. Five years later in October 1985 tin prices dropped and in April 1986 the mine was closed. The next years already broken ore was removed from the mine, then a rescue programme was put into effect and easily accessible ore mined. But finally in 1990 all programmes failed, the mine was closed and the pumps turned off.

Often such abandoned mines are worked for scrap metal and then they become industrial ruins, but here many miners who had worked with the machinery over decades demanded to protect the site. Finally, Cornwall County Council made the wise decision to purchase the site. The locals had the idea to convert the mine into a Mining Heritage Centre, which would also create at least a few jobs in the area. Local volunteers worked hard and in August 1993 Geevor Tin Mine Heritage Centre opened. It was managed by the Trevithick Trust for eight years. The local volunteers founded Pendeen Community Heritage (PCH), an independent locally-based charity, which took over management since 2001. Also, the 2005 listing of Cornish mines on the UNESCO World heritage List included Geevor Tin Mine as part of the St. Ives Mining District. But it actually became one of three World Heritage Site Key Centres in Cornwall and west Devon. Necessary renovations of the buildings as well as the construction of the new Hard Rock Museum The Heritage Lottery Fund approved a GBP 3.8 million bid for building restoration and the creation of a major new museum around 2002. The project, which was completed in 2008, included work on the biodiversity of the site. The area has become a sort of nature preserve since the mine has closed.