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Page 306.
Mellanear, St Erth. Map Reference SW560361
Ownership 1867 – 1889 Mellanear Copper Mining Co Ltd (Abandoned 1889)
Management Manager 1863 Richard Stephens
1869 William Paull
1865 – 1868 W Gill
1870 Richard Stephens
1870 – 1871 Edward Rogerswell
1872 Edward Rogers
1873 – 1874 J Moyle
1875 – 1881 John Gilbert
Chief Agent 1864 – 1868 Richard Stephens
1872 J Moyle
1877 John Woolcock
1878 – 1879 John Woolcock, William Toms
1880 John Woolcock, Samuel Harns
1881 Samuel Harris, William Toms
1882 – 1889 John Gilbert
Secretary 1863 – 1866 Alm E Paull
1869 – 1874 Committee
1875 John Taylor & Sons
1876 John Hayle
1877 W G Williams
1878 – 1879 W G Williams (S)
1880 – 1881 Williams (S) & Taylor (P)
| Employment | Underground | Surface | Total |
| 1878 | 139 | 146 | 285 |
| 1879 | 137 | 161 | 298 |
| 1880 | 130 | 163 | 293 |
| 1881 | 134 | 166 | 300 |
| 1882 | 133 | 159 | 292 |
| 1883 | 130 | 146 | 276 |
| 1884 | 109 | 129 | 238 |
| 1885 | 97 | 103 | 200 |
| 1886 | 80 | 80 | 160 |
| 1887 | 65 | 61 | 126 |
| 1888 | 84 | 62 | 146 |
| 1889 | 48 | 40 | 88 |
Production.
Tables were given for each year by ore in tons; metal in tons and value in £s. I have recorded the peak performance for each metal only.
Lead 1886 – peaked at 21 tons of ore (£NIL)
Zinc 1872 – 1889 – peaked 1887 at 649 tons of ore (£796)
Copper 1865 – 1889 – peaked 1884 at 6928 tons of ore (£16,029)
Tin 1879 – 1889 – peaked 1885 at 437 tons of ‘stuff’ (£482)
(Tin was quoted as ‘Black’, ‘Stuff’ and ‘Tin’ – all in tons.) I deduce from reading this account that whilst copper production had peaked in 1884 to a maximum output of 6,928 tons of copper ore, the value had already started to decline. The peak value of £26,964 was for the year 1882 when production was 6,741 tons. Generally speaking from 1880 – 1885 Mellanear Mine was at its peak in production, value of ore produced and numbers employed. After that for the next 4 years until it was abandoned in 1889 the out put of the mine shrank rapidly. Appendix A lists Mellanear Mine as one of the 47 mines whose combined total output was 11.6% of the Cornish total (1845 – 1913) which was £7,187,442 combined total. Individually they ranged from £100,00 to £250,000. Therefore Mellanear was not an important mine (being in the lowest productive category) with a comparatively small operation with only two shafts.