science

South Terras mine

South Terras mine is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand South Terras mine rather than just read about it. In short: South Terras Mine is a disused uranium and radium mine near Grampound Road and St Stephen-in-Brannel, Cornwall. Prior to producing primarily radioactive ores, it also produced tin, iron, and ochre.

Key takeaways

South Terras mine belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect South Terras mine to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of South Terras mine from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

South Terras Mine is a disused uranium and radium mine near Grampound Road and St Stephen-in-Brannel, Cornwall. Prior to producing primarily radioactive ores, it also produced tin, iron, and ochre. In 1996, it was designated a site of special scientific interest for the variety of unusual and rare minerals.

History South Terras Mine was first worked by the South Terras Tin Mining Company Limited from 1872 to 1888, but returns of tin were small and iron ore and ochre were the main products. Uranium was discovered in about 1885 when a lode was cut that produced an unusual apple-green mineral: at first this was thought to be copper ore, but was later identified as torbernite. The adit level where the uranium minerals had been discovered had a door placed on it for security. The torbernite was locally nicknamed "Green Jim" after the name of the then managing director of the mine James Harris-James. The company was reformed in 1889 as the Uranium Mines Ltd and Harris-James stepped down as a director. In 1889 the mine was acquired by the Minerals Research Syndicate Limited and the workforce was tripled to about thirty. All uranium ores were sold to Bettmann & Kupfer in Brunswick, Germany, mainly for uranium glass manufacture. British Metalliferous Mines Limited succeeded the Minerals Research Syndicate as operators of South Terras in 1905, the objective being to reopen the mine principally for its radium, with uranium as a byproduct. King Edward VII of England developed a skin cancer on his right naso-labial fold in 1906. There were no radium factories in the UK at the time and he was treated and cured with radium from Paris. The King, Colonel Ashley and Lord Iveagh through donations helped to establish the London Radium Institute. The "Kingsway Syndicate" purchased ore from South Terras, a contract having been agreed to supply 7.5g of radium bromide worth over £30,000 for the London Radium Institute. The institute began the treatment of patients in 1906/1907, South Terras having supplied the 7.5g of radium bromide from over 100 tons of pitchblende ore. Societe Industrielle du Radium Limited was registered in 1912 to acquire South Terras mine, working it to provide ores for its subsidiary company - Societe Francaise du Radium - to process in France. There were eight directors, four English and four French. These included Jacque Danne and Sydney Fawns. The outbreak of World War I ended the company's activities. Operations were recommenced in 1921; this time the mine was equipped for radium extraction on site, the first and only mine in the United Kingdom to do so. The mine was managed by Marcel Pochon, an ex-student of Pierre Curie, who moved to Cornwall to live in a bungalow next to the South Shaft. A description of the processing plant appears in 1925. The mine had closed before 1928 when the British & General Radium Corporation Limited acquired it from the previous lessee; the company was a German syndicate managed by a Swiss director, Dr I. Strauss. Marcel Pochon remained on site with his family throughout these changes, presumably as a technical engineer and scientist. The mine was abandoned in the early 1930s and Pochon left for Canada in 1932 to establish the radium refinery for the Eldorado Mining Company in Port Hope, Ontario. Pochon operated that refinery from 1933 to 1945 and it became a key component of the Manhattan Project. South Terras was the subject of diamond drilling investigations by the Atomic Energy Division of the British Geological Survey in 1953.

Site of special scientific interest In 1996, South Terras Mine was designed a site of special scientific interest, particularly for its rare uranium minerals. Those mentioned on the citationare:

Rammelsbergite Smaltite Skutterudite Gersdorffite Lollingite Bismutoferrite Native Bismuth Xanthiosite Aerugite Xanthiosite, aerugite, and bismutoferrite were removed from the Mindat listing "due to the high probability of fraudulent recording of discovery by A.W.G. Kingsbury".

Radiation

Measurements of radiation at South Terras mine are amongst the highest for non-nuclear facilities in Europe, owing to uranium ores decaying to form radon gas. Measurements from inside the adit were taken by Gillmore et al (2002):

See also Mining in Cornwall and Devon Uranium mining Eldorado Mine (Northwest Territories) Port Radium Uranium mining in Canada

References

External links Smale, C. (1993) ‘South Terras: Cornwall’s Premier Uranium and Radium Mine’, Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall: New Series II, 1, pt.3, pp. 304–322. SSSI Citation (archived), Natural England listing and map Mindat listing

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with South Terras mine

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what South Terras mine claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to South Terras mine before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about South Terras mine ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of South Terras mine

In research: South Terras mine appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses South Terras mine in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: South Terras mine is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Cornish mining organisations, Mines in Cornwall, Radium, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for South Terras mine outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study South Terras mine in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what South Terras mine means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain South Terras mine out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is South Terras mine in simple terms?

South Terras Mine is a disused uranium and radium mine near Grampound Road and St Stephen-in-Brannel, Cornwall. Prior to producing primarily radioactive ores, it also produced tin, iron, and ochre.

Why does South Terras mine matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study South Terras mine?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on South Terras mine.