Wheal Maid field trip

The Consolidation Mine, also known as the Consols, forms part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site. The Mine used to be several smaller mines until underground workings of these mines that amalgamated in 1782 (http://www.cornwallinfocus.co.uk/mining/consols.php). The Consols was a massively successful copper mine. Such was its fame that many other mines were opened using their name, with the hope to profit by association with the success story. Our field trip studied one of the Consols sites which is one of the largest causes of pollution in the area. Wheal Maid is an abandoned site that is owned by the Gwennap Parish Council, having been purchased for £1 from Carnon Enterprises (http://www.gwennap-parish.net/wheal_maid.html). The site was mined while the Consols were in operation until the 1870s, and then became site for taking fine-grained mineral processing wastes (tailings) from the mill facilities at the former Mount Wellington tin mine during the 1970s and 80s. A valley infill at Wheal Maid consists of two lagoons separated by three dams and contains approximately 220,000m3 of tailings. After pressure locally, the Carrick District Council asked the Environmental Agency to conduct an environmental quality inspection in 2007 (https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/media/3625647/2008-09-16-Record-of-Determination.pdf). The investigation concluded that Wheal Maid is a contaminated site, due to the levels of arsenic in the soil. The investigation stated that there is a significant possibility of significant harm to young children using the site for BMX/mountain biking from exposure to arsenic through the inhalation, ingestion and dermal absorption pathways from soil. The controlled waters risk assessment show that the site is causing pollution of controlled waters by leaching of arsenic, cadmium, copper, chromium, iron, lead, nickel and zinc through the toe of the lower lagoon into the St. Day Stream. It further concludes that pollution of controlled waters is likely to be caused by leaching of the above pollutants into groundwater beneath the site and through the culvert wall into the St. Day Stream (https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/media/3625647/2008-09-16-Record-of-Determination.pdf).