Swinlees Copper Mine - Scottish Cave and Mine Database Site Details

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Swinlees Copper Mine

The old mine is situated on the south slope of Carwinning Hill, about half a mile W.N.W. from Swinlees House and two miles north of Dairy. The mine was worked nearly a century ago, and was abandoned owing to lack of ore. The vein trends north-west, and is from 2 to 3 ft. in width. The infilling consists mainly of broken country-rock (intrusive felsite, and limestone), calcite, quartz and barytes, with associated chalcopyrite and malachite. Two levels have been driven along the vein, but the lower one is now closed; from the size of the dumps, a fair amount of work has been carried on. [Earthwise]

Links and Resources:

aditnow.
Landless, Jeremy., 1985, A Gazetteer of the Metal Mines of Scotland, p. 58.
Earthwise. Link
Geological Survey, 6" map, 2nd or later editions (1850s-1940s) - Link
Oldham, Tony, 2007, The Mines of Scotland: A Bibliography.
Green, David I. and Todd, J. Gordon, 2000, Twenty Years in Minerals: Scotland. M&M (21) pp. 9-27 illus. No. 14 , noted for its large masses of black copper sulphide djurleite.
GSG Bulletin, 4th Series, Vol. 3, No. 2 (March 2007), p. 54. Jeffreys, Alan L., Mine Sites in Scotland. 6 fig. coordinates only, from list of sites visited by the Glasgow Speleological Society.

This entry was last updated: 2025-07-11 15:37:02

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NGR:	NS 28830 52790
WGS84:	55.73816, -4.72798
Length:	Not recorded
Vert. Range:	Not recorded
Altitude:	Not recorded
Geology:	Copper
Tags:	Mine, ManMade, Archaeo
Registry:	second