Lemon's West Shaft, Wheal Unity, Gwennap, Cornwall, England, UKi

Regional Level Types
Lemon's West Shaft	Group of Shafts
Wheal Unity	Mine (Disused)
Gwennap	Civil Parish
Cornwall	County
England	Constituent Country
UK	Country

Although this location is correctly called Lemon's West Shaft of Wheal Unity, it is sometimes called Wheal Gorland by the English Government environmental protection body Natural England. In a bid to protect the minerals remaining in the mine dump the site was given legal protection and listed as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)in June 1988. The legal documentation for this process was produced using the name Wheal Gorland. The mineral vein worked from this shaft is probably the same one worked from Bawden's Shaft of Wheal Gorland which was just the other side of the road only 90 metres away. To collect from this mine dump you need permission from the St. Day Rugby Club who are owners of the site, the owners of the mineral rights for the metalliferous minerals within the dump and written consent from Natural England as protecting authority. The site does contain examples of exceptionally rare minerals such as Liroconite and Clinoclase but the dump is in a very poor state of preservation. Following the removal of the neighbouring dump associated with Bawden's Shaft of Wheal Gorland the attention of mineral collectors moved to Lemon's West. Some holes were dug by collectors but the real damage was done when contractors moved a large area of dump to expose the mine shaft for capping. The country rock is quite soft so the ground around the shaft was removed prior to a large concrete plug being created. The mine dump, layer of top soil from under the dump, country rock and any nearby rubbish was pushed back and the dump profile restored. The area was left to vegetate and the current status today is described by Natural England as declining. Minerals do not remain stable in the long term in this unnatural environment with humus present. The South West Branch of The Russell Society successfully negotiated permission from Natural England to rescue minerals by digging two trenches using an excavator 14-15th July 2017.