Cassiterite

Unknown Owner

Lustrous black crystals of cassiterite to 0.4 cm in size up on a crystalline muscovite matrix. In good condition. Wheal Fortune was a tin and copper mine near St Agnes in Cornwall, England, worked mainly during the 18th and 19th centuries. The mine is best known for the dramatic flooding disaster of 1846, when an inrush of water from old workings caused significant damage and loss of life. Like many Cornish mines, Wheal Fortune experienced periods of prosperity and decline before finally closing as ore reserves became uneconomic, and today only surface remains and mine waste survive as part of the historic mining landscape.