Carn Brea and Tincroft Mines merged
eventually to form part of the enlarged sett of South
Crofty. They lay just to the north and northwest of the granite hill of
Carn Brea overlooking the Camborne-Redruth area. Carn Brea mine was one of the
largest setts in this part of Cornwall. The mine was s on the lower slopes of
the hill and was bounded to the east by Carn Brea Village and the sett of Wheal
Union and Wheal Uny, Redruth. To the north lay the setts of
East Pool, Wheal Agar and Tehidy. To the west lay the Tincroft,
Illogan Mines and Crofty setts. Over the hill to the south the mining rights
were leased to the North Frances and South Carn Brea setts.
The original Carn Brea mine site is located on the northern fringes of the Carn Brea granite. The chief lode exploited here is the Tincroft North Lode. The granite-killas junction at the surface runs E.N.E and underground the general subcrop of the granite surface dips 25° to 35° N. Several elvan dykes, traversing both granite and killas, are located in the north of the area (Dines, 1956).
Both tin and copper ore were reported to occur to a depth of 200m, dominant lode fillings below this depth consist of finely divided chlorite with grains of cassiterite and arsenopyrite. The lode passes from killas to granite at 210m in the east and 150m in the west. Lodes in the Tincroft area were closed early in the 20th century (Dines, 1956).
In their lifetime Carn Brea and Tincroft mines produced 460,000 tons of copper and 53,000 tons of tin.
1832 Wheal Druid was amalgamated with Wheal Fanny, Tregajorran Mine and Barncoose Mine to become Carn Brea Mines.
1840-50's production from the highly mineralised area running southeast from Camborne to Bissoe was at its peak.
1850-1870 As copper production fell tin production increased with advances in mining technology allowing the tin to be worked at greater depths.
1896 Tincroft and Carn Brea Mines amalgamated - records show that in this year the mine employed 466 workers underground and 607 on the surface.
1917 The Carn Brea mine incorporated the Tincroft and Cooks Kitchen mines and the name Tincroft was adopted for the whole area.