Devon Great Consols (original) (raw)

Devon Great Consols was a copper mine near Tavistock in Devon. The lease on the site was taken from the Duke of Bedford in 1844 by a group of investors. The 1,024 shares, sold at one pound each, were divided among the six men. Earlier attempts to mine this property had all ended in failure. It was once viewed as the most productive copper mine in the world. When cheaper sources of copper became available from abroad the company began refining arsenic in 1867 and was considered to be its largest producer in the 19th century.