Cornish Mining Terms


Mining for tin, copper, and to a much lesser extent other metals, has a very long tradition in Cornwall, and words have developed to describe things that were not needed in the vernacular, technical terms used by the miners. The miners spoke Cornish, so there are Cornish terms, and many were adapted to English or translated, and last but not least, both Cornish and English technical terms were adopted into English mining terminology.


Cornish English Explanation
bal mine The old term for a mine was derived from Cornish ‘Pal’, the word for a shovel, and hence ‘digging’. In its earliest usage it referred to a group of small open cast tin mines.
consols The shortened form of the word ‘Consolidated’ was used where a number of mines were brought together under one management. It became a part of mine names to inspire confidence in unwary investors. Example: Devon Great Consols.
ôdyt, odytys adit drainage tunnel, with an inline big enough to make the water flow out without pumping.
moren, moronyon bal bal maiden women working in the ore processing plant.
pastel, pastellow bal sett the legal boundary within which a mine could extract minerals, sold or auctioned typically for 21 years, lease.
arlùth, arlydhy mûn mineral lord the owner of the mineral rights, generally neither the landowner nor the lord of the area.
mûndalas, mûndalasow royalty, dish, dues different terms for the fee which is paid to the mineral rights owner (mineral lord) which is a percentage of the gross produce before expenses. Typical were a 15th, but in newer mines also a 10th or a 8th.
kyllas killas sedimentary clay-slate rock often metamorphosed by the granite intrusion.
elvan intrusive quartz porphyry rock.
goth, gwythy lode, vein, seam crack in the rock filled with minerals and ores, normally vertical or near-vertical; often extending for considerable distances.
adventurer shareholder of a mine.
bal-selling, share-jobbing selling of mine shares for speculative purposes, not for actual mining.
chy, treven acowntya count house, counthouse, account house The mine office, the shortened version was commonly used.
stôp, stôpys stope the space which remained when the ore was excavated.
stôpyor, stôpyoryon stoper miner who extracts ore in a stope.
overhand stoping stoping by removing ore from the roof.
underhand stoping stoping below the current level digging downwards.
level, levelyow level horizontal tunnel on lodes, usually at a depth spacing of 10 fathoms.
bagh, bahow cage the cabin of the elevator.
haulya hoist, winder engine used to raise and lower conveyances within the mine shaft.
costean, costeaning costean, costeaning the process by which miners seek to discover ores by sinking small pits through the superficial deposits to the solid rock, then driving a tunnel across which crosses all the veins between the two pits.
gunnies gunnies the space left after the extraction of a vertical or near vertical ore-bearing lode.
vooga vug, vugh, vugg A small- to medium-sized cavity in rock which is filled with minerals, the cornish vooga means cave.
kybel, kybellow kibbal, kibble A large bucket which was lowere and lifted by a winch to transport miners, ore and construction material in and from the mine. Was later replaced by a cage.
gossan gossan Intensely oxidized, weathered or decomposed rock, usually the upper and exposed part of an ore deposit or mineral vein.
mundic mundic originally the cornish word for pyrite, now used for concrete deterioration caused by oxidisation of pyrites within the aggregate.
keeve keeving a large tub used for differential settlement of the crushed ore, separate heavy ores from lighter surrounding rock.