Firstly a big thanks to Dave (the BFG i have decided for all roald dahl lovers) the guide, the nameless female non member who organised it and all the usual suspects (Bconfined, Morrisey, Boboil and spark) for breaking me again and getting me wet and covered in shite, i cant think of many better ways to spend a saturday.

Parys Mountain – in the Welsh language Mynydd Parys – is located south of Amlwch which is in north east Anglesey.

The copper from the mine at Parys Mountain dominated the world's markets during the 1780s, when the mine was allegedly the largest in the world. It was used to sheath the admiralty's wooden ships of war in order to prevent the growth of seaweed and barnacles and to prevent boring by worms. This increased the speed and manoeuvrability of the vessels, although it is said that Parys Mountain copper was also sold to the French for use by their fleet.

Initially ore was worked on the surface from shallow shafts, next by open-pit mining and finally underground from adits or from shafts. The ore was broken into small lumps by hand, the best ore being shipped to Lancashire or to the Lower Swansea valley in South Wales through the port of Swansea for smelting. Copper was concentrated and extracted from the remainder using kilns and furnaces on site.

It was also discovered that purer metal could be obtained efficiently, although in small amounts, by its precipitation from drainage water with scrap iron in purpose-built ponds. Associated with the mines, important chemical industries were established on the Mountain based on by-products such as ochre pigments, sulphur, vitriol and alum.


Part of the huge open cast, pictures just dont do it justice


Driving up towards the place excitement levels were raised palpably by the spotting of the headstocks by me and boboil, morrisey showed remarkable restraint until we were actually upon them and then he was off too.


There were boxes and boxes of core samples lying around full of fantastic minerals




The best bit by far though was the winding engine which i'll leave one of the others to post, i'll just do the peripherals






We did actually manage to get underground at some point too












And finally, you may be able to make out a couple of figures on the headstocks, there are actually three

This was a staggeringly good day out, I have to say thanks to the mine guys for letting me tag along, it was a lot of fun, though we didn't get as many rocks into R1's rucksack as we would have liked to.

Scale is something that is hard to convey with this place, to put this enviromental nightmare into perspective a little, R1 is in this photo, if you start in the centre and come out in a 1 o'clock direction then you'll see him.... just




These dark red pools are full of highly acidic water, it's a really strange deep red colour and you can't see so far into them, some of them are 6 inches deep, in other places they have been measured at 30 feet deep, you're well advised to stay away from them. (Mendo... some have mermaids )





Random Tunnel explorer looking into the abyss



Now just some pretty random tunnel pictures..









This stuff is pretty weird, it's a bit like sticky snot and apparently it's actually a living organism.




Anyway, copper mines rule, buy one, explore it.... invite me!

[boboil]

What a place!
Big thanks to everyone involved, the seven hours we spent moochin round here wasn't nearly enough, Highlight of the day was topping out on the head gear with Morrisey & Spark

Two excited little boys






Winding house












Underground








The top of the headgear

[Morrisey]

My view of the day, thanks gents for making it a good one. R1, hope you are tucked up nicely in your comfort blanket and you are having 'bitty'.





R1 re enacts the cybermen off Dr Who.




Sparks's convertible


Bridge over the acid pits (bodies disposed of at competitive rates)




Spark negotiating the snot factory




Boys toys








And to finish off a superb day, a nice climb up the headstock, very windy and very cold!!