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Once at the top of the stairs, the drop below became extremely tangible. It didn’t help that most of the floor
was missing at this level as well, and what still existed appeared to be flimsy metal sheets. We walked carefully,
keeping to the girders.
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The fall, in some cases, was through both floors and to the ground below.
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It was worth it. Some of the froth floatation tanks were still in-situ; other huge processing machines could be
seen through the gloom.
Mount Wellington processed lead, tin and copper from granite and these machines were used to extract the
metal from the ore. And from 1976, the mine worked profitably, and provided work for the area.
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In 1991, the price of tin completely collapsed. Almost overnight, all the Cornish tin mines became
unprofitable, and many simply closed the same day. This happened at Mount Wellington;
there's still lots of tin in the ground, but it's just too expensive to get it up.
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There were the remains of some offices on this level. It was difficult to figure out who did the
damage here; was it the salvage crews, ripping out all the metal they profitably could? Or was it
the local kids feeling bored and destructive?
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