Welsh Journals

THE SEARCH FOR ZINC BLENDE IN MID-CARDIGANSHIRE DURING WORLD WAR II Since the publication of my first article on W. G. Tarrant (ante, XI, 1988-9), a fascinating collection of uncatalogued letters, reports and other material from World War II has come to light in the office of the British Geological Survey (Wales) at Bryneithyn Hall, near Aberystwyth. Included among these are nearly thirty letters written by Tarrant himself, many of them in his own handwriting, comprising the sole extant collection of Tarrant correspondence. These letters not only give an insight into his energetic and entrepreneurial character, but also provide a focus for examining the purpose and outcome of the wartime search for minerals in the Cardiganshire lead-zinc field. The recipient of Tarrant's letters was Mr. W. C. C. Rose, secretary to the Non-Ferrous Metallic Ores Committee (N.F.M.O.C.) of the Ministry of Supply. The committee's secretariat was located in the Geological Museum in Kensington, while its parent body, the Ministry's Raw Materials Department, had been removed to the safety of the castle at Warwick. The British Geological Survey's files also contain copies of Rose's replies to Tarrant, some internal memoranda, reports from geologists and mining engineers, and other miscellaneous items. A name which recurs frequently in the correspondence is that of R. R. Nancarrow. He lived at Mount Pleasant, Pont-rhyd-y-groes, and throughout the inter-war period had been involved with the local lead- mining industry, usually as manager or lessee of parts of the Lisburne Mines group. He was, for instance, the last manager of the remote Glog- fawr and Glog-fach mines, lying in the high country to the south of the Hafod estate. At the end of World War I he was the initiator and manager of an ambitious scheme to process material from the Fron-goch dumps, which were rich in discarded zinc blende, at a new dressing mill at Gwaith-goch; this involved the construction of over 3000 yards of aerial ropeway to carry the ore, an access bridge across the River Ystwyth, and a 28 ft. high dam to provide water power for the turbines at the plant, with a new leat 2400 yards in length.2 Nancarrow was an unrivalled local source of knowledge on the location and quality of mineral lodes, and on the surveying and engineering techniques required for their exploration and exploitation. This fact was recognised by those charged with making decisions for the Ministry of Supply who, at the outbreak of World War II, already had in their possession a detailed report prepared by Nancarrow on the conditions and prospects of the Cardiganshire mines. 3