The Copper Mine on
Virgin Gorda
Virgin Gorda () is the third-largest island (after Tortola and Anegada) and second-most populous of the British Virgin Islands (BVI).
Geography
Located at about 18 degrees, 48 minutes North, and 64 degrees, 30 minutes West, it covers an area o ...
,
British Virgin Islands
)
, anthem = "God Save the King"
, song_type = Territorial song
, song = "Oh, Beautiful Virgin Islands"
, image_map = File:British Virgin Islands on the globe (Americas centered).svg
, map_caption =
, mapsize = 290px
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, is a national park containing the ruins of an abandoned 19th-century copper mine.
Copper was discovered on Virgin Gorda. Local legends also suggest the shafts were dug by Spanish adventurers to mine silver in the late fifteenth century, but no documentary evidence can be found to support this theory, and no firm evidence of Spanish occupation of the islands prior to the Dutch settlement exists, much less the size of settlement which would be needed to sink shafts.
After the islands came under British control, the Copper Mine was constructed in 1837 and its first shaft was sunk in 1838. In two separate periods over the next 24 years, 36
Cornish miners extracted
ore
Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically containing metals, that can be mined, treated and sold at a profit.Encyclopædia Britannica. "Ore". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 7 April 2 ...
from this site with the aid of some 140 British Virgin Islands workmen. The ore which was extracted was sent by road to
Spanish Town
Spanish Town ( jam, label=Jamaican Creole, Panish Tong) is the capital and the largest town in the parish of St. Catherine in the historic county of Middlesex, Jamaica. It was the Spanish and British capital of Jamaica from 1534 until 1872. Th ...
(the largest settlement and harbour on Virgin Gorda) along coppermine road (originally built by the miners), and then by ship to
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
and; on the return trip the ships would carry provisions, wood for construction, wages for the workers, and coal with which to power their steam engine.
The mine was abandoned in 1862 and was never reopened. Parts of the original stack, the engine house, and the main building are all that remain. Several of the Cornish miners started families with native women and there are descendants living in the Virgin Islands to this day.
No plans are known to exist of the workings, however, it was recorded that by 1869 they were at a depth of 40
fathom
A fathom is a unit of length in the imperial and the U.S. customary systems equal to , used especially for measuring the depth of water. The fathom is neither an International Standard (SI) unit, nor an internationally-accepted non-SI unit. Hi ...
s (240 ft) and that the levels extended under the sea.
Beam engine
The
beam engine
A beam engine is a type of steam engine where a pivoted overhead beam is used to apply the force from a vertical piston to a vertical connecting rod. This configuration, with the engine directly driving a pump, was first used by Thomas Newco ...
at the Virgin Gorda copper mine is the oldest surviving Cornish beam engine in the world. The engine and beam were manufactured by the
Perran Foundry
Perranarworthal ( kw, Peran ar Wodhel) is a civil parish and village in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village is about four miles (6.5 km) northwest of Falmouth and five miles (8 km) southwest of Truro. Perranarworthal p ...
, Cornwall, in 1836 and brought to the site in 1840 having previously worked at a mine in Cornwall. The beam is now located on the beach in Handsome Bay, Virgin Gorda.
The engine was of typical Cornish construction with a cylinder of 40 inches. It was the workhorse of the mine, being used to pump water from the mine, raise the copper ore up the shafts and to power the ore-dressing machinery. A Cornish boiler produced steam to drive the engine. These boilers were the first to use high-pressure steam and were invented in 1815 by the Cornish engineer
Richard Trevithick
Richard Trevithick (13 April 1771 – 22 April 1833) was a British inventor and mining engineer. The son of a mining captain, and born in the mining heartland of Cornwall, Trevithick was immersed in mining and engineering from an early age. He w ...
(who also invented the first steamroad locomotive).
Today
The Copper Mine is a protected site and tourist attraction. However, it is in a perilous state, and sits in a position which is particularly exposed to
hurricane
A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...
s.
The Copper Mine Committee, in cooperation with the National Parks Trust of the British Virgin Islands, has undertaken to reconstruct the site using the footprint of the buildings and plans developed by archaeologists familiar with the work of these Cornish miners and their engineers. However, such plans have not been implemented.
Minerals
Notwithstanding the abandoning of the mine, rich veins of copper are still visible on the point today, although not remotely in the quantities which would make modern commercial mining economic. Also, lying loosely around the site are various other rock specimens, including
malachite
Malachite is a copper carbonate hydroxide mineral, with the formula Cu2CO3(OH)2. This opaque, green-banded mineral crystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system, and most often forms botryoidal, fibrous, or stalagmitic masses, in fractures ...
, carbonate of copper;
quartz
Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...
containing copper-iron
sulfide
Sulfide (British English also sulphide) is an inorganic anion of sulfur with the chemical formula S2− or a compound containing one or more S2− ions. Solutions of sulfide salts are corrosive. ''Sulfide'' also refers to chemical compounds lar ...
; and
molybdenite
Molybdenite is a mineral of molybdenum disulfide, Mo S2. Similar in appearance and feel to graphite, molybdenite has a lubricating effect that is a consequence of its layered structure. The atomic structure consists of a sheet of molybdenum ato ...
. It has been suggested that a local cottage industry could have started making
semiprecious jewellery.
{{coord, 18.434, -64.427, dim:1000_region:VG, display=title
Ruins in the British Virgin Islands
History of the British Virgin Islands
Copper mines in the British Virgin Islands
Cornish diaspora
Virgin Gorda