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Mines/United Kingdom

Great Orme Mines

Great Orme Mines, United Kingdom. Heritage site, underground, mining copper.

Why Great Orme Mines is famous

Bronze Age copper mining about 1600 to 1200 BC. The Bronze Age workings were recognised by Duncan James in the mid-1970s, a second phase is documented from the 1690s, and the mine opened to the public in 1991.1,2,3

Story cards

Great Orme Mines today

Where copper is mined todayMining in United Kingdom

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Mines

An example ofWadi Faynan (Khirbat Faynan)Faynan's copper smelting began in the Chalcolithic, 4500 to 3100 BC, long before Great Orme.4ExamplesFalun Mine (Stora Kopparberg)Falun's legend dates its mining to about AD 700. Great Orme's copper goes back to 1600 BC.5Inspired byHallstatt salt mineHallstatt's underground salt shafts used a method taken from copper mining.6ExamplesCalumet and Hecla (Keweenaw)Hulbert found an ancient copper cache at Calumet in 1858. Great Orme's Bronze Age mine dates to 1600 BC.7ExamplesTonglushan copper mineAncient copper on two continents: Tonglushan in China and Great Orme in Wales.8

Sources

  1. Great Orme Bronze Age mine booklet National Monuments Record of Scotland style booklet on Great Orme copper mines
  2. Great Orme history Mostyn Estates
  3. Wikidata entity Q3395318
  4. Wadi Faynan copper mining World Archaeology
  5. Falun copper mine feature Christian Science Monitor
  6. Hallstatt-Dachstein Salzkammergut cultural landscape, evaluation No 806 UNESCO World Heritage Centre / ICOMOS advisory body evaluation
  7. Keweenaw National Historical Park timeline US National Park Service
  8. Wikidata item Q107490065 (Tonglushan Mine) Wikidata (CC0)

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Pictures: Timna in de Negevwoestijn; rotspartij "de zuilen van Salomo", Poll, Willem van de / Europeana (Public Domain Mark 1.0); Earth Observations taken by the Expedition 15 Crew, NASA JSC (Public domain (NASA media, no copyright)); Dolcoath tin mine, Camborne, Cornwall: miners in a mine shaft, standing on wooden platforms connected by ladders. Photograph by J. C. Burrow, 1890/1910., Burrow, J. C., 1852-1914 (Public Domain Mark 1.0); Mijnramp Bois du Caizier, Marcinelle, België. Schacht, Rossem, Wim van / Anefo / Europeana (Public Domain Mark 1.0).