Falmouth Festival Week and a great Cornish Mining Sundowner

The Cornish Mining Sundowner gets better and better, with a great turnout of around 30 yesterday at Falmouth's Chain Locker pub.

Pete and Mary Shepherd, Nick Eastwood, Barbara Wills, Tony Clarke and Steve Barber

Pauline Clarke with Process Mineralogy '18 keynote speaker Frances Wall

BW, Dave Goldburn, Nick Eastwood, Dean Eastbury, Steve Barber, Pete Walsh, Barbara Wills, Dave Dew

The Cornish Mining Renaissance is well under way, and it was good to see so many Cornish Lithium staff, pictured below with Pete Ledingham, Project Manager for the United Downs Deep Geothermal Power project, operated by Geothermal Engineering Limited (GEL). The quest to extract lithium from geothermal brines is now well under way, and Cornish Lithium has recently recruited eight more geologists to the project.

Pete Ledingham (right) with Cornish Lithium staff Adam Matthews, Beth Colgan,
Tom Naylor, George Fry, Lucy Crane and Chris harker

GEL has secured funding of £10.6 million from the European Regional Development Fund to explore the geothermal resources deep beneath Cornwall. With £2.4 million from Cornwall Council and £5 million from private investors, the funding will allow GEL to drill two deep geothermal wells from its site within the United Downs Industrial Estate and build a 1MW pilot power plant to demonstrate the technical and commercial viability of supplying both electricity and heat. Drilling hopefully starts next month, so there will be much to report on in the following months.

It was nice to talk to two young people now embarking on their minerals industry careers. Alex Perry and Sajjad Jabarkhel graduated last month from Camborne School of Mines with honours degrees in Mining Engineering. Alex was Student Union President in his final year, but still managed a first class degree. He is hoping to work in Australia, and I am sure he is set for a very bright future. Sajjad is originally from Afghanistan, and is seriously thinking of staying on at Camborne to study for an MSc in Mineral Processing.

Sajjad and Alex (right) with Tony Clarke, Dean Eastbury, Lucy Crane, Dave Goldburn, Patrick Hegarty and Rob Fitzpatrick

I was pleased to see Rob Fitzpatrick back at a sundowner. Rob is leader of the new MSc in Mineral Processing, which starts next month (MEI Online). He is pictured below with biohydrometallurgists Dave Dew and Paul Norris, and Dave Goldburn of Physical Separation '19 sponsor Holman-Wilfley. Dave Dew will be presenting a keynote lecture at Biomining '20 in Falmouth.

Dave Dew, Paul Norris, Rob Fitzpatrick and Dave Goldburn

Rob tells me that they are expecting between 5 and 10 on the programme this year, but will be pushing next year for better numbers with visits to universities with relevant undergraduate programmes amongst the other forms of advertising.  The programme addresses the industrial need for more trained minerals process engineers, offering a great opportunity for undergraduates with chemistry, engineering, geology and other related backgrounds to enter the exciting field of mineral processing. It provides an excellent opportunity for practical, hands-on learning, featuring the latest developments in mineral processing. Students will also benefit from the wealth of expertise available in industry, particularly from mineral engineering companies based in south west UK. The MSc Minerals Processing programme, including a part-time blended learning option for working professionals, is enthusiastically supported by the CSM Trust, which is currently offering five scholarships of £6k for successful applicants.

This was a great sundowner, part of a great week in Falmouth. The town has been teeming with visitors this week, for the annual Falmouth Festival Week. With its origins in a local sailing regatta dating back at least as far 1837, the Week has evolved into not only a major sailing competition in the south west but also an opportunity for tourists and locals to enjoy the many daytime and evening attractions in the town. The highlight, as always, was the display by the Red Arrows, the RAF's aerobatic team, on Tuesday evening.

The Red Arrows arrive in Falmouth to an eagerly awaiting crowd on Gyllyngvase Beach

Falmouth is certainly a great place to be, and we look forward to being at the next sundowner at the Chain Locker on Thursday September 20th, commencing 17.30.

Twitter @barrywills