Prior to 1910 there were 3 mining schools in Cornwall, at Camborne, Penzance and Redruth
The School Of Metallipherous Mining was formed by the amalgamation of all the mining schools in the county of Cornwall, England, UK in 1910. It was decided to amalgamate these in 1910 into one school which would occupy the Camborne Mining School site.
Mr. W. Ficher Wilkinson was appointed as the first principal of the newly formed School of Metallipherous Mining. He was educated at Harrow and at the Freiberg University of Mining and Technology, Freiberg, Germany.
In 1975 the school changed its name to Camborne School of Mines to better describe its academic activities.
The Redruth School of Mines and Art opened in 1882/83 and was located in Clinton Road to the east of the town. With the removel of mining education to the Camborne the site, this became became the Science and Art School and continued to teach art and science.
A wing of the Redruth Mining School was a large mineral museum called the Robert Hunt Memorial Museum erected to the memory of Robert Hunt FRS by The Miners Association of Devon and Cornwall. keeper of the Mining Record Office, London. This remained open until 1950 when it closed, the specimens were then taken to the Camborne School of Mines.
The Camborne Campus of Camborne School of Mines as it became known was located just off of Camborne High-street in Trevithick Road. George Basset, the great mine entrepreneur made a bequest in 1876 to build a laboratory in Camborne, The Basset building, for the use of the pupils of The Miners Association. 1882 The adjacent Camborne Science and Art School building opened.
The Penzance Mining and Science School opened on the 7 Oct. 1890. The school housed the technical instruction hall and the lecture theatre and upstairs chemical lecture rooms, class rooms and a laboratory filled with working benches for 24 students, furnace room for metallurgical work and a balance room. Andrew Ketcham Barnett was the first principal.