118 PRECIOUS METALS IJf THE WEST OF ENGLAND, 



But the silver contained in what may be called true silver 

 ores is trivial as compared with that existing- in the copper and 

 lead ores from the mines of the two counties. Of copper ores it 

 has been shewn that about 11 A- millions of tons have been sold 

 between 1501 and 1900, averaging probably 2^ ozs. silver to the 

 ton, this represents therefore no less than 28f million ounces of 

 silver. Of course only a very small proportion of this was ever 

 separated by the smelters, yet it was there, and might have been 

 profitably extracted by known methods.*' 



The lead ores of the "West of England have usually been 

 rich in silver. In a paper lately printed I hav^e shown that it is 

 highly probable that not less than 560,000 ounces of silver 

 have been raised from our West Country lead mines. *"^ 



Taking all this into account, remembering too the silver of 

 our gozzans and indeed of almost all the ores raised in our ore- 

 region,*^ the silver contents of such ores mined and sold during 

 the past six centuries can hardly be estimated at less than fortj^ 

 millions of ounces, or over 1300 tons of metallic silver. 



It is evident, however, that the district as a whole can neither 

 be regarded as auriferous or argentiferous in the ordinary sense of 

 the term ; in other words gold and silver may prove to be 

 important accidental or bye-products, but nothing more. It is 

 admitted that our statistics of precious metal production are very 

 imperfect, but yet the whole yield of these metals from the West 

 of England since mining began can hardly have been as great 

 as the yields respectively of a single gold or silver mine of the 

 first rank. Still, bearing in mind all these circumstances, it is 

 quite natural that suggestions should have been put forward 

 from time to time, as to the advisability of systematically work- 

 ing our mines for the precious metals. In the year 1896, at the 



47. One instance has been cited where from the copper ores of a single mine in 

 East Cornwall, the smelters obtained i;6o,ooo worth of silver, say 240,000 ounces, for 

 which they paid nothing to the mine. 



48. See Notes on the principal lead-bearing lodes of the West of England. Trans. 

 R.G.S.C. XIL pt. VIII. igo2. In this paper mention is made of the .silver cup 

 presented to the Lord Mayor of London by Sir Bevis Bulmer in the latter part of the 

 reign of Queen Elizabeth, the silver for which was obtained at the Fayes Mine in 

 N. Devon. 



49. The iron ores of Perranzabuloe and of Trebarvah, in Perranuthnoe, have often 

 been found to contain silver up to 7 ounces per ton, so also the blende of Wheal 

 Trannack and other places, Some of the vein-stones also are distinctly argentiferous. 



