Cottam Settlement

In 1999, a bulk coal sample was extracted in Cottam Settlement, about seven kilometres from Debert. The mine didn't continue but reclamation did. The pictures below show how the mine was backfilled and reseeded.

According to the Museum of Industry, there were several attempts at small-scale coal mining around Debert before the first “official” mine was opened by the Colchester Coal and Railway Company on Debert Mountain in 1903. The Debert Coal Mine operated until 1910 and was reopened briefly in 1936, producing 5,472 tons.

About 19 kilometres east of Truro, at Kemptown, the Riversdale (aka Kemptown) Mine produced 364,860 tons of coal between 1920-1932.

The Coolen mine at Belmont produced 249 tons during its brief life in 1925.