Announcement Date: June 30, 2012
INDOOR WITH FIELD MEETS – hosted by the Derbyshire Caving Club and held at Quarry Bank Mill, near Wilmslow, Cheshire.
The main theme of the conference was to describe the mining heritage of Cheshire and by extension other areas where the ratio of mining to agriculture may historically have been quite low. However, talks extended to current and even future mining of other non-metalliferous minerals such as Cheshire salt, Northumberland potash and Staffordshire copper and coal.
Most of the field trips were focused on Alderley Edge, only a few miles from the conference venue. However, trips were also held further afield in the Cheshire salt mines, Apedale colliery, Ecton copper mine, Goodluck lead mine and Hanging Flat fluorite mine. Surface visits included guided tours at Poynton (coal), Pott Shrigley (coal and fireclay) and Chatterley Whitfield (coal).
