Report, endorsed by James and Thomas Hamilton, on the investigation of the mine at Alva and the ores identified in it

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In obedience to His Royal Highness The Price of Wales Guardian of the Kingdom His Instructions, which His Royal Highness was Pleased (in His Majesty's Name) to Will and Require to be observed by Me Iustus Branshagen and my Assistant James Hamilton in the Survey and Tryal, which we were to make of the Mine with the Mountain about it, Called Sir John Erskines Mine in the Parish of Alva five Miles from Stirling East and be North: Which Instructions are Dated at Hampton Court the 3^d. day of September 1716, Counter Sign'd by The Right Honourable The Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury; And whereby I am Directed to make a Return in Writing of all my Proceedings therein to the said Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury. I most humbly and with all submission make Offer of the following answer and Report to the said Instructions And first

That from the time of my Arrival in Scotland in prosecution of His Royal Highness's Instructions about this Mine, I have been encouraged protected and particularly assisted in all my Progress therein by The Right Honourable The Earl of Lauderdale General of His Majesty's Mint at Edinburgh and by M^r. Holdane of Gleneagles and M^r. William Drummond Warden of His Majesty's Mint at Edinburgh, As will more fully appear both by what after follows in this Report and by the Iournals of my whole Proceedings relating to this Mine, Which I shall upon my Arrival at London, whether I am presenting intending for this purpose, and to give Your Lordships the best satisfaction I can in all this Matter.

That after I had bestowed considerable Time Pains and Expenses in Cleaning the Mine and Building the Furnaces for Assaying and Melting, and that every thing was got in readiness for the Tryals, I wrote to Edinburgh and advertis'd The Earl of Lauderdale, M^r. Holdane and M^r. Drummond of the same, Desiring they might return to Alva to witnes the breaking off of the Ore and making the Assayes as Directed by His Royal Highness Instruction, and they accordingly Arriv'd at Alva upon the 2^d. of January in the Morning.

That upon the said 2^d. of January Thhe above Commissioners went with myself Thomas and James Hamiltons to the Mine, and there, after viewing the Mine, and the Vein of Ore therein. It was Agreed To break off Ore in Six Several places of the Vein (and which places are Marked in the Draught or Description of the Vein with the Number 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) And also it was Agreed That we should lay asside part of Each of these Six Several parcels of Ore for the Tryals, and part thereof also to send to London to Your Lordships; So accordingly at the Commissioners Sight the Hamiltons broke off of the Ore at the Six Several places of the Vein following Viz^t. at N^o. 1. at the Vein F. E. as in the Draught Ore was broke off, where the Vein is 5 Inches broad.

At N^o. 2. 17 Inches under N^o. 1. downwards, Ore was broke off, where the Vein is 8 Inches broad; but the Ore appears not so good

At N^o. 3, Ore was broke off, and the Vein is 7 Inches broad, continuing so 9 Inches downwards, and the Ore appears much better.

At N^o. 4 Ore was broke off, where the Vein is 15 Inches broad (and this appears to be the Main Body of the Vein) and betwixt N^o 3 to 4 the Vein runns downwards 2 foot and 2 Inches to the Bottom or the sole of the Vein, and the Vein enlarges it self in Breadth as it goes down.

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At N^o. 5. in the Vein betwixt E. and D. on the sole, Ore was broke off, where the Vein is 10 Inches, and this is the Middle of the Vein in the Sole.

At N^o. 6 which is the beginning of the Vein in the Sole, Ore was broke off and is 2 Inches broad.

And Each of which six parcels of Ore, as they were broke off was put up separately in Baggs prepared for that purpose.

That this being done, I proceeded with the Hamiltons to the Melting and making separate Assayes of these Six parcels of Ore in the presence of the Commissioners, as is likewise Ordered by His Royal Highess Instructions; And which Assayes were made in the Manner particularly sett down in the Table likewise hereunto Annexed, and the Assayes and Quantities of Ore Mentioned in this Table are sent up with this Report, as Directed by the Instructions, and upon my own private Tryals of the Ore of which I had made severals before the Arrival of the Commissioners, I found it of an Extraordinary Nature, such as to my Knowledge few or nine like have ever been seen in Europe: It consists of Sulphur, Arsnic, Copper Tinn, Iron some Lead and good Silver, of all these the Silver is only to be regarded, for the other Minerals and Metalls contained in this Ore, are of little Value, and not worth the Charges to separate and keep them.

All these Assayes of the Ore of the Mine at Alva being finished I proceeded with the Hamiltons in presence of the said Commissioners, to Assay an Ounce of the Raw-Copper Ore dugg out of the Mine at Ethrie, which after pounding and Roasting came to 19 penny weight 4 Grains, then I melted it & it produc'd 4 penny weight 10 Grains of fine Copper, but little or no Silver at all.

That with Regard to that part of His Royal Highness Instructions relating to the Description of this Mine in its breadth, depth and other Dimensions of the same, after a full and particular Examination made thereof in presence and with the Assistance of the said Commissioners, I made a Draught and Description of the Mine, which are also hereto Annexed for the better and more easy understanding of the same

That as to the particular sort of Earth and Stone, in which this Vein is lodged, the first Appearance of it in the Rock is a Small Rib of Spar mixed with stone of a blackish Colour, this Vein separates the hard Rock and grows broader as it goes down and the Spar the harder.

That as to what Beds of Silver or Copper Ore, appear in the Mine, neither the Hamiltons nor I could observe nor find any nor no other Veins more than what is already represented.

That concerning that part of His Royal Highness Instructions, as to the Viewing the Burn or Channel about 3 or 4 Furlongs to the Westward of the Mine in {the} same Mountain, and the other part of His Royal highness Instructions relating to the viewing all Sir John Erskine's part of the Mountain. I with the Hamiltons have view the foresaid Burn or Channel, where we found many Appearances of good Mines, and particularly 2 Copper Veins which appear at the day, but as they appear at present there is no Metall in them, and the season does not admitt to view and examine the Ground so as to have a Certainty in these Matters.

And for the same Reason and that the Ground is at this time of the Year closed and so till the Spring, there are no Eskalations from the Earth; It is very difficult to judge of any thing of this Nature with any Certainty, and to attempt it now, would be loosing time, which before my Departure from London I represented to The Right Honourable My Lord Viscount Townend; and that the season for surveying was then past; And having made diligent Enquiry of the Country People about any Signs of Mines in these Mountains, they told us of Sundry Circumstances about Mines and Signs which they are unwilling now to discover, but these in the Spring may easily be discovered; There are also as I have been inform'd several good Prospects of Mines in Sundry parts of this Country without the Limits of Sir John Erskines Bounds; But my Commission, as I presume does not extend to my inspecting of the same.

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That with regard to Sir John Erskine himself (who has been a Witnes to all the Transactions with the Commissioners) he has all along been not only particularly Civil and kind to me by procuring me and my family and the Hamiltons good Lodging and Accommodation near the Mine, in the Minister of Alva's house, but likewise in Accommodating us sometimes with necessary Tools, with Work people, and with a house where we built the furnaces, and made the Assayes, and he contribute{d} in every thing to facilitate and carry on this Business.

That Thomas and James Hamiltons have been Aiding and very assisting to Me; Thomas in the digging in the Mine and cleaning the same and building the furnaces, and ordering the Tools and necessary Materialls, James and Thomas both in the Assaying and in the Making of the Surveys.

That every thing contain'd in His Royal Highness Instructions, so farr as the season of the Year would permit, being thus finished: I left Alva with the Hamiltons upon the 14^th. day of Ianuary 171$\frac{6}{7}$, and we came to Edinburgh, where, after Sundry Meetings with the Commissioners, this Report was adjusted, and the Assayes and Ore are sealed up as Directed by the Instructions.

Sign'd Iustus Brandshagen

James Hamilton

Thomas Hamilton

Sign'd Lauderdale

Haldane

W^m. Drummond

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Description of the Mine

A. is the Level to the Mine, whose Entrance is A¹: From thence to A²: is 22$\frac{1}{2}$ Foot long, it is 5$\frac{1}{2}$ foot high and 2$\frac{1}{2}$ foot wide.

B. is a Drift stretching all along equal with the Level and is from A²: to b. 19 foot long, and of the same height and wideness with the Level. This Drift is all dead Rock, and it seems they have lost the Vein in pursuing this Drift, and therefore the Miners have struck in upon the East Side at A²: (this Section is Noted in the Draught with C. and runns 90 Degrees betwixt East and North) where they have found the Main Vein X. they have got it again at G which discovers it self at first as a blew Clay or Marell, but very small at the Entrance of the Level A. and runns in a direct Line straight along betwixt a very hard Rock 335 degrees from West to North; This Vein continues dead without any Ore, till at D. where the Ore appears at the Bottom or sole of the Vein 6$\frac{1}{2}$ foot from C. (the Vein where wrought out from above till it became Level to the general Level A.) and as I presume to be a Drain to the Water, if they should digg deeper

This black Vein at the beginning of it at D. is but 2 Inches broad or Ore, but the whole Vein with the Spar from side to side of the Vein included is one foot broad; this black Vein enlarges itself D. to E. gradually, so that in this distance, which is 8 foot from D. it is 15 Inches broad at E. these two parts of this black Vein join together Viz^t. the breast of the Vein F. with that Horizontal part on sole E. D.

I come next to describe this other part of the Vein, which strikes in a Manner perpendicular down upon it's own part E.

This Vein appears above at the day 6 foot from the Grass, and in a loose black Earth very small above at G., but increasing gradually downwards, it is at E. 2 foot 8 Inches wide from our side of the Vein to the other (Spar and Ore included) and the depth from G. to E. is 29 foot. But in this part of the Description it must be observed that from the Top G. to g. it is all dead Spar, and at g. (which is 10$\frac{1}{2}$ foot distant from G) there appears a little string of Ore 2 Inches wide & 10 Inches downwards in length, of small value, From this little string g. downwards to h. is all dead Spar again, and at this h. there appears almost of the same sort of Spar, but intermixed with some small spots of Ore, and this they call here a Rider, which Rider is about one foot thick from h. downwards to F. and just under this Rider appears a black Vein of Ore, which Vein is like a particular Vein in the general one, inclining more to the West side of the general Vein, yea it joins almost to the Rock on the West Side, and runns from the top to the Sole (as from F. to E.) 5$\frac{1}{2}$ foot. Above at the Top of F. the black Vein is but 3 Inches, and at N^o. 1. 5 Inches broad, and so the black Vein inlarges it self gradually downwards, and at E. the black Vein is 15 Inches broad as is said above, including a little spot at the East Side, which spot was discovered by striking off the Spar and made the Vein somewhat broader there.

On both Sides of this black Vein, there runns all alongst downwards a dead Spar (except that in some places it is intermixed with some small spots of Ore) and this makes the whole Vein with Spar and Ore at E. (where it appears at present broadest of all) 2 foot 8 Inches from side to side.

But as has been observed this black Vein, is not every where equal in Goodness and Richness of Silver, as does appear by the Assayes

I.{1} is the shaft falling perpendicular does where the Vein D.E. begins Viz^t. in D. and this shaft is 21 foot deep.

The whole Vein from the Top G. downwards to E. is 29 foot deep.

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Then taken of the Several Parcels a Proportion to make up O^z. 1. and it produced 9^gr. $\frac{18}{24}$ by D^r. & Hamiltons

Some Observations upon these Assayes