0:00:30 > 0:00:35In 1748, a Welsh map maker described the port of Amlwch
0:00:35 > 0:00:39as an "insignificant harbour that is not worth mapping".
0:00:39 > 0:00:42But barely 20 years later, that insignificant harbour
0:00:42 > 0:00:45became the most important port in Wales.
0:00:52 > 0:00:59Dotted all around are relics of early industry, proof that this site was once a hive of activity.
0:00:59 > 0:01:01So what went on here?
0:01:01 > 0:01:02And what happened to it all?
0:01:04 > 0:01:08This abandoned road originally ran all the way from the hillside above
0:01:08 > 0:01:13me to the port down there, and it's known locally as the Copper Road.
0:01:13 > 0:01:18The name is the first clue to what's going on.
0:01:18 > 0:01:22Anglesey is incredibly rich in copper ore.
0:01:22 > 0:01:28In 1768, a particularly rich vein of copper was unearthed here on Parys Mountain.
0:01:28 > 0:01:36Local geologist David Jenkins is going to show me the dramatic impact that discovery had on the landscape.
0:01:38 > 0:01:44Wow, that is incredible! Just look at the colours, the scale of it.
0:01:44 > 0:01:49Looks like the kind of hole of a meteorite would make after it smashed into the earth.
0:01:51 > 0:01:55And yet, essentially, it was done by hand.
0:01:55 > 0:01:57At one point there were about 1,500 miners
0:01:57 > 0:02:00working down here excavating this hole,
0:02:00 > 0:02:04blasting with black powder, so it must have been an incredible place.
0:02:04 > 0:02:06Very spectacular.
0:02:07 > 0:02:11But turning this potential mountain of money
0:02:11 > 0:02:16into hard cash meant arduous, back-breaking work for thousands.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20This is a fragment of what was called a cobbing floor.
0:02:20 > 0:02:26This was a yard where the ore was delivered to women working in sheds,
0:02:26 > 0:02:32and they would break up the ore into small pieces, and the ones with ore in they would keep and it would go
0:02:32 > 0:02:37for roasting and smelting, and the waste rock, that would be thrown down and...
0:02:37 > 0:02:42So all this rubbish around here was built up on rubbish?
0:02:42 > 0:02:4712 hours and they got 10p, that was their reward for hard labour.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52I'm getting nowhere here! Oh, what's that?
0:02:52 > 0:02:55- Yes, that's a... - It's like gold, isn't it?
0:02:55 > 0:02:57Looks very similar to gold.
0:02:57 > 0:03:01Slightly greenier. Oh, you might have got your 10p for this!
0:03:01 > 0:03:07To cash in, they had to transport thousands of tonnes of copper ore off the island.
0:03:09 > 0:03:15So some 240 years ago the tiny nearby port of Amlwch was transformed.
0:03:16 > 0:03:23That mammoth enterprise has been researched by local historian Brian Hope.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26The smelter was up at the top there,
0:03:26 > 0:03:30and the wind, as it's blowing today, billowing smoke out to sea,
0:03:30 > 0:03:35and there were complaints the entrance to the harbour couldn't be found because of that.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38- Pretty toxic smoke I guess, wasn't it?- Well, make you cough!
0:03:38 > 0:03:41Where were the ships sailing to when they left here loaded with copper ore?
0:03:41 > 0:03:44Mainly to Swansea, to the Crown smelters there.
0:03:44 > 0:03:47After all, Swansea was Copperopolis.
0:03:48 > 0:03:53The copper from this area dominated the world's market in the 1780s.
0:03:53 > 0:03:59It was used to copper bottom boats, mint coins and fashion ornaments.
0:04:01 > 0:04:03But time was running out.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06The remaining copper was harder to reach.
0:04:06 > 0:04:14By the late 1800s, after nearly 100 years, the Amlwch copper rush came to an end.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20But maybe the story of Parys Mountain isn't over.
0:04:20 > 0:04:22Perhaps it's just on hold.
0:04:22 > 0:04:29The amazing colours of the landscape indicate that it's still rich in minerals.
0:04:29 > 0:04:35There's copper, lead and zinc, and even a sprinkling of gold and silver.
0:04:38 > 0:04:41There may be a time when demand for the precious metals
0:04:41 > 0:04:47buried behind the coast of Anglesey make it economic for miners to return to Parys Mountain.