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MINING
MINING FROM THE MID 19th CENTURY ONWARDS
Later
mining. Because the miners of the late 19th and early 20th centuries
were working the malachite and azurite ores, they could remove much larger
volumes of rock, even though it only contained an average of 2% of copper.
The result was that West Mine and Wood Mine developed huge stopes (caverns)
which are still impressive today. Above is the entrance to West Mine at
the end of the quarry where copper ore was obtained for a while before moving
underground.
The picture on the right shows a short hand drill found at Alderley. A typical triangular drill hole is shown below.
(Left) The Canyon passage in West Mine. This picture shows the
height of the passages. At the top of the passage is a narrower section
that probably represents the earliest trials in this area.
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