Among the rich copper countries of the world I have finally to mention
South Australia, New South Wales, and Victoria. The most extraordinary
copper mine of modern times for produce is that of Burra-Burra in South
Australia. It was started in September 1845, with a capital of
12,000_l._, subscribed by a few merchants and traders of Adelaide, and
in the following five years yielded no less than 56,428 tons of ore,
worth 738,108_l._ The gold discoveries momentarily put a stop to its
prosperity; but of late years the works have been resumed, and other
rich mines have been opened, so that copper will long remain one of the
staple productions of Australia.
The history of some of our copper mines affords examples of good fortune
no less remarkable than those which we find mentioned in the annals of
the Mexican silver-mining.
Tresavean Copper Mine, within a walk of Redruth, had once or twice been
abandoned as a failure. At length it was taken up by parties who
persevered in exploring it, and succeeded in discovering its wealth by
an outlay of little more than 1,000_l._ From 1838 to 1843 the profits
averaged 30,693_l._ per annum, and in 1833 630_l._ were divided per
share, or in all 60,480_l._ upon ninety-nine shares, each share having
about 20_l._ paid up, so that in one year the profits surpassed more
than thirty times the capital invested.
Old Crinnis Copper Mine, near St. Austell, was in 1808 abandoned, after
repeated failures, and declared by the best miners of the day to be not
worth ‘a pipe of tobacco.’ In 1809 Mr. Joshua Rowe, of Torpoint, and
some co-adventurers, notwithstanding the general contempt for the mine,
began working it again. As it still remained poor, the adventurers
dropped off one by one, leaving the entire cost of working upon Mr.
Rowe, who, after laying out a few additional hundreds, was rewarded by
the discovery of a rich mass of ore at about ten fathoms from the
surface. Upon this becoming known, the old adventurers again claimed
their shares; but Mr. Rowe resisted their unjust pretentions and won his
lawsuit. In the short space of four years and a half, this mine made a
clear profit of 168,000_l._, besides paying 20,000_l._ for law expenses.
Another instance of remarkable success is afforded by the Devon Great
Consols Mines, which were opened in the year 1844. The capital of the
company which undertook their working was parted into 1,024 shares, with
1_l._ paid on each share. In the same year by November a rich copper
lode was cut, and the profits paid working expenses without call. The
lodes soon began to turn out so rich that in the six years between the
dates of 1844 and of 1850 the company extracted and sold copper ores to
the amount of 600,000_l._ After paying all expenses, the shareholders
received about 207,000_l._, or more than 200_l._ per share on 1_l._
paid. No more was called, and thus an average annual dividend of 35_l._,
equivalent to 3,500 per cent., fell to the lot of each share.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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