Callington Mining District - Okel Tor Mine

OS Explorer Map 108: Grid reference SX444689

Location
The sett of Okel Tor mine lies in East Cornwall in the Calstock area of the Callington Mining District. Situated about half a mile northeast of Calstock and worked from three main lodes. The lodes named North (Main) Lode; Middle Lode and South Lode worked from Engine Shaft and New Shaft. It is recorded by Spargo in his book The Mines of Cornwall; Statistics and Observations (1865) as having a 50-inch pumping engine, a 22-inch combined winding and crushing engine. It employed 107 people - 80 men, 12 females and 15 boys. The mine was leased from the Duke of Cornwall, the mineral lord.

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History
Okel Tor dates from about 1848 until 1887 and in that period produced pyrite, chalcopyrite, mispickel, galena and some cassiterite as well as low grade copper ore.

Records of output were: 13,215 tons of 4% copper ore and 85 tons of black tin between 1859-1874 and 13,370 tons arsenical pyrite, 3,550 tons arsenic and one and a quarter tons of 80% lead ore for the period 1855-78 and 1882.

For more information on production dates and so on please see Roger Burt's excellent book Cornish Mines: Metalliferous and Associated Minerals, 1845-1913 (Mineral Statistics of the United Kingdom, 1845-1913) or what is widely regarded as the mining enthusiasts bible by H G Dines - The Metalliferous Mining Region of South-West England: Vols I & II (Economic Memoirs).

For those of you with possibly a little more time to explore, once you've done 'the tourist bit', why not explore Cornwall's industrial heritage through its Tin and Copper Mines or learn more from my Cornish Bookstore