314 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



to about one-third of their depth, in order to cut off some water which 

 would otherwise flow into the Consolidated mines. These mines have 

 been more productive during the last seven years than the average 

 of mines in Cornwall. The following particulars are collected from 

 the accounts which have been printed annually in a series of reports 

 by Mr. John Taylor, and from the monthly reports on the engines. 



The Consolidated mines recommenced working in 1819, after ly- 

 ing drowned for fourteen years, and £65,000 was advanced by the 

 new adventurers to bring them into operation. During the years 1819, 

 1 S20 and 1821, the expenditure exceeded the returns by £74,078 ; 

 but during the years 1822, 1823 and 1824, arprofit of £51,561 was 

 made. 



At the end of 1824, £10,000 more was subscribed to continue 

 the United mines, which were given up by their original proprietors. 

 The capital to be repaid to the adventurers at the beginning of 1825, 

 including interest then due upon the several advances, was £55,382. 

 During the last five years, the Consolidated and United mines together 

 have produced a profit of £63,604, whereby all the capital subscribed, 

 together with interest upon it, has been paid off, and an actual gain 

 was made in 1829, in addition to the value of the stock of materials 

 on the mines. 



The total expenditure in all the eleven years, has been £824,585, 

 and the returns £865,672 : hence the profit beyond the repayment of 

 the capital subscribed has been £41,087 in eleven years ; or interest 

 at five per cent, per annum being allowed on the sums subscribed until 

 the periods of repayment, the clear gain is stated in the printed ac- 

 counts to be only £10,244 to the adventurers*. 



The expense of draining the water from both mines, as stated in 

 the annual accounts of the last five years, has been decreasing each 

 year from £\7,776 to £1 1,958 per annum ; although the monthly re- 

 ports on the engines show that the number of engines has been in- 

 creased from four to eight, and the power exerted by them increased 

 from 432 to 513 horse power. The cost of drainage has averaged 

 £13,826 per annum. The average performance of the engines has 

 been improved from 31 04 to 5 1 '81 millions, during the last five years, 

 averaging 39*36 millions, being more than double 19*38 millions, 

 which was the average performance of Mr. Watt's engines in 1813, 

 when Mr. Woolf went into Cornwall j therefore if such engines were 

 now used at the Consolidated mines, the expense of drainage might 

 be expected to average (£13,826 X 39-36 -~ 19 38 =) £28,100 per 

 annum, or £ 1 4,274 more than it has been • and it is that saving which 

 has constituted the whole of the profit made during the last five years. 



During the last five years the mines have produced 73,561 tons of 



» This does not include any valuation of the materials in use in the 

 mines ; although the cost of all materials is included in the amount of total 

 expenditure. The materials would sell for a large sum, but that can scarcely 

 be reckoned as a part of the profit, because from the uncertainty of mining 

 prospects a mine cannot be given up in time to realize it : the working is 

 usually continued at a loss until a debt is incurred, and when the adventurers 

 become too much discouraged to make further advances, the mine is given 

 up, and the materials sold to pay the debt. 



copper 



