There is evidence to suggest that the area had been worked for 2000 years and in fact deep level mining took place up until 1891. In 1904 West Australian Gold Field invested in the venture and a new company was formed. By 1911 Geevor Tin Mines was floated as a modern tin mine. For the next 80 years, and especially after the closure of Levant in 1930, Geevor was the lifeblood of the local community. But things were not always rosy.
Mining is a risky and unpredictable business.
The mining companies are exposed to such external factors as volatile metal prices which can wipe out profits overnight, and internal variables such as the capricious tin lodes which can disappear suddenly into barren rock. Geevor was not immune to these crises but its management and men had the tenacity and doggedness to weather the storms and keep in production for most of this century. However, the Tin Crisis of 1985, when the price fell from 10,000 to 3,400 per ton overnight, virtually wiped out the Cornish tin mining industry and Geevor with it. Wheal Jane and South Crofty were fortunate to benefit from Government rescue packages. Geevor was left to die.