London - South Crofty pit in Cornwall closed yesterday, ending a long tin-mining tradition in south-west England. The pit was the last working tin mine in Europe and its closure means the loss of 200 jobs.
In the 1850s and 1860s there were some 50 pits in Cornwall, and the county produced most of the world's copper and tin. South Crofty was a fairly small mine, producing 2,100 tonnes of tin in 1996. There have been tin mines at South Crofty for 4,000 years.