GEEVOR TIN MINER STEVE HOWIS REMINICES ABOUT THE DAY IT CLOSED IN 1990 (Geevor top tourist visit)

Tin miner Steve Howis talks about the day Geevor Tin mine closed in Feb 1990.
With the price of tin falling the company closed the mine and the staff had 20 minutes to shower change and empty their lockers.
Although most of the lockers are still like they were the day the mine closed and hence it is an emotional place to visit!
The whole mine complex is now seen by the visitor as if the mine had just closed yesterday.
High on the cliffs the mine shaft extends out under the sea and to a depth of 1,200 feet.
Miners could hear the sound of the sea crashing above them as they worked with heavy air operated drills. However the miners in Victorian and Georgian times worked with heavy hammers and twisted the drills after every strike.
There is chance to experience and visit a mine from that earlier period too Wheal Mexico is a snaking below ground mine that can be visited and where you can see and feel what it was to to be underground in a mine of that period.
There are many twists and tunes as you tour the mine with many displays of the workers and the situations they faced every day in the cramped and soaking wet mine shafts.
Its history of mining in the area goes back thousands of years. Digging tin and copper from the earth has been very much part of the life of West Cornwall.
Processing the tin ore was done through crushing the stone and then passing it through a series of shaking tables as the heavier ores worked their way to the extraction point and were then smelted into tin ore and sold through the metal markets.
The mine is also home to an interesting museum called the Hard Rock Museum which has a great collection of relics and artefacts that also explains the life underground and the tools and equipment needed to mine the ore.
There are also many hands on interactive activities great for children and the young at heart. Its possible to hear recordings of other miners like Steve Howis who were actually employed there when it closed down.
Being on a World Heritage site this is one of the best places to explore a mine and discover a history that in the UK has passed. Although new heavy metals like Lithium are now being mined nearby at South Crofty Mine at Camborne.