The mines of Cuba, which were very important, have latterly fallen off; but in 1866 the exportation to Swansea still amounted to 11,254 tons of ore.
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 12,000l., 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 738,108l. 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 1,000l. From 1838 to 1843 the profits averaged 30,693l. per annum, and in 1833 630l. were divided per share, or in all 60,480l. upon ninety-nine shares, each share having about 20l. 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 168,000l., besides paying 20,000l. 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 1l. 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 600,000l. After paying all expenses, the shareholders received about 207,000l., or more than 200l. per share on 1l. paid. No more was called, and thus an average annual dividend of 35l., equivalent to 3,500 per cent., fell to the lot of each share.
Such instances, however, of good fortune are very rare, for mining in Cornwall, as elsewhere, is much more frequently attended with disappointment and loss. Sometimes an apparently rich produce is absorbed by still greater expenses, or veins very promising when first opened fall off below, and occasion immense loss to the adventurers. A sudden fall in the price of the metal is alone sufficient to render many of the poorer mines perfectly worthless for a long time.[[53]] Hence nothing can be more hazardous than to invest capital in a mining concern; and if Shakespeare had foreseen the delusions of modern speculations in concerns of this kind, he could not more truly have characterised them than by saying—
‘The earth hath bubbles as the water hath,
And these are of them.’
Yet the hope of suddenly getting rich, and the very risks and daring attending all mining undertakings, have an almost magical attraction; and, in spite of numberless instances of loss or ruin, there will probably never be a want of speculators willing to embark their fortunes on this unstable foundation.