Coom Mine Info

Coom Mine                           Mianach Chúim

Coom Mine was the last mine to be opened in the Allihies area having been opened in 1870 by the new Berehaven Mining  Company who had recently bought the mines from Henry Puxley in 1868.

Two shafts were sunk and the engine house erected to house a 28 inch cylinder steam engine. The site was known as Bewley’s after the Dublin family who were board members of the Berehaven Mining Company.Coom Mine

The working in the mines was dangerous. A Mine Captain reports:

“On the 13 inst. we had a man killed by falling out of the whim bucket in the whim shaft (winding shaft), he fell 72 feet and was killed immediately. … The whim bucket was coming up and he was rather late to get into it, when he laid hold of the edge of it with his fingers and was drawn up nearly to the top in that manner but was obliged to let go at last and fell to the bottom of the shaft. … He was a very able young man – this day we intended to carry him across the mountain to Castletown a distance of 7 miles to have him interred but the weather is so bad with a fall of sleet and snow that it was not possible. … We hope to do the last for him tomorrow.”

Coom Mine proved not to be a very productive mine. It had only produced 70 or 80 tons of ore when it closed in 1882.

In 1917 a further attempt to extract ore was made by Allihies Copper Mines Ltd. which proved fruitless.