Sark's Hope Mine, Little Sark, Sark, Bailiwick of Guernseyi

Regional Level Types
Sark's Hope Mine	Mine
Little Sark	Peninsula
Sark	Island
Bailiwick of Guernsey	Crown Dependency

Ixer and Stanley state that "[t]he small island of Sark, about 10 km east of Guernsey, was a site of active mining and exploration during the middle of the nineteenth century. Of all the mineral prospects on the island Sark's Hope mine on Little Sark was the most important and, indeed, was the only metalliferous mine in the Channel Islands to produce significant amounts of ore.

The most comprehensive account of the mineralization and mining history is that of Mourant and Warren (1934), which includes sections and maps of Sark's Hope mine and an extensive list of mineral species. Their work is largely a review of early accounts by Prince (1846) and Henwood (1871a , b ), supplemented by reports of the mining from the local press. A more recent systematic mineralogical and paragenetic study is that of Bishop et al. (1977 on one specimen, BM 1964R, 440 from the Russell Collection in the British Museum (Natural History).

The lead-silver-bearing vein, 'Sark's Hope Silver Lead lode', cuts a foliated hornblende granite of Late Precambrian age (Sutton and Watson, 1957). Although there is little trace of the vein today, with the outcrop workings being mostly obscured by a thick cover of vegetation, the early accounts describe it as 0.4 to 2.5 m in width, more than 600 m in length, oriented 028-037° and dipping at 65-85° to the northwest.

Small amounts of in situ ore were obtained from the poorly exposed and weathered parts of the vein at the southwestern end, but most of our specimens were collected from the spoil tips, in particular from Le Pelley's shaft tip at the northeastern end of the lode. Additional material was obtained from the Guernsey Museum collection, and the specimen in the British Museum (Natural History) collection BM 1964R, 440 was re-examined. Forty-three polished sections and five polished thin sections were investigated by reflected and transmitted light microscope techniques. Selected sulphides and sulphosalts were analysed by electron microprobe, and some secondary minerals were identified by X-ray diffraction."

Mindat Articles

Review: Silver Mining on Sark by Keith Compton

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References