Processing

When the tin ore was found underground, it did not occur in big pieces, but in small crystals scattered through the rock.

Once the rock has been mined underground it was hoisted to the surface where it needed to be processed to become a tin concentrate – a fine powder know as ‘black tin’. This would be taken away to be smelted into the tin metal that we are familiar with.

 Photograph reproduced with the kind permission of the T Grevatt collection held by Cornwall Council