There were at the time three mining schools in Cornwall; at Camborne, Penzance and Redruth and it was felt that they should be combined.
Mr. W. Ficher Wilkinson was appointed as the first principal of the newly formed School of Metalliferous Mining.
A wing of the Redruth Mining School was a large mineral museum called the Robert Hunt Memorial Museum erected by The Miners Association of Devon and Cornwall to the memory of Robert Hunt FRS, keeper of the Mining Record Office in London.
The Penzance Mining and Science School opened on 7 October 1890, at a cost for building and fittings of nearly £1,900.
Andrew Ketcham Barnett was the first principal of the Mining and Science School at Penzance, which had been established due to his classes on mineralogy in 1873.