The creek serving the factory silted up and mining in Cornwall declined. Eight or nine barges at a time could be found at Perranwharf with a similar number of wagons waiting to be loaded. The wharf had been used to import timber for the mining industry from Scandinavia, as well as coal, lime and guano. The guano trade was estimated to bring in between £20,000 and £30,000 a year. The slump in the mining industry during the 1870s hit Perran Foundry badly and it closed in March 1879 with the loss of 400 jobs, causing great distress in the parish. In April 1879, the Royal Cornwall Gazette reported that a soup kitchen had been open since January: ″793 people had attended and 1,240 quarts of soup were distributed″. In July 1880 a preliminary notice of an intended auction for Perran Foundry was planned for mid-August. Williams's Perran Foundry covered an area of over and had a lease of 99 years (commencing 24 August 1874) from Colonel Tremayne. The property contained a number of workshops, including blacksmith and engineers, a hammermill and a quay at Restronguet with access for 200-ton vessels. The machinery, plant and stock were auctioned on 30 September and 1 October 1880. Large stocks of boiler plates and machinery at the Boiler Yard, Ponsanooth were auctioned, and at the Pattern Shop, Foundry Yard, 10 tons of copper, brass, lead, tin, pewter and other metals, 6 tons of steel, several thousand fire bricks, 50 tons coal and coke, timber and numerous other lots. A chemical manure works known as Basset Foundry was sold to Mr T Rickard of Penryn for £101 in January 1883.