Great news from CSM on a warm evening at the Cornish Mining Sundowner

Last night at Falmouth's Chain Locker was one of our warmest evenings ever for a sundowner, on a week where all UK temperature records were broken, and Bude reached a Cornish record of 34.2C.  It was good to see so many of our regulars, and to welcome a few new faces.

Some of the sundowner regulars.......

....and a welcome to some new faces, with CSM's Stephen Hesselbo

Most of the sundowner regulars have had involvement with Camborne School of Mines (CSM), as current or past students, or as members of staff. There was great news from CSM Head Prof Stephen Hesselbo that Anglo American has made a transformational donation to support sustainable mining research and education at CSM. The £3.5 million donation will fund a research programme combining the study of mining engineering with environmental and social sciences and include interdisciplinary and policy-related work. It will include a Professorial Chair and a cohort of post-Doctoral Fellowships.

Mark Cutifani

The ‘Mark Cutifani Anglo American Chair in Mining Innovation’ will honour the achievements of Mark Cutifani, Chief Executive of Anglo American, who retired last month after nine years.

During his time as Chief Executive Mr Cutifani led a transformation that reduced environmental incidents by 97% and led to a 92% drop in occupational health cases.

The ‘Mark Cutifani Anglo American Chair in Mining Innovation’ will reflect the ambitions set out in this sustainable mining plan and recognises the need to approach mining activity responsibly. The successful candidate will establish a research group for the future of mining with an emphasis on the proactive development of new technologies, taking into account their technical, social, environmental and governance impacts. The new Chair will promote creative and inter-disciplinary research collaborations between Anglo American, CSM researchers and educators, and the wider stakeholder communities, and will be appointed in 2023, the donation funding an expendable endowment for a 14-year period. 

Stephen Hesselbo, Maureen Atkinson, Robin Dunn, Mike Hallewell, Barbara Wills and Tony Batchelor

At last month's sundowner I was pleased to hear that Mike Hallewell had been appointed as Consulting Metallurgist for Cornish Metals and so will be leading the process development effort for the impending studies for the regeneration of the old South Crofty tin mine near Camborne. Mike has also been involved with reviewing the new development plan for restarting production at the Hemerdon tungsten and tin mine, just across the border in Devon. Formerly the ill-fated Drakelands mine, operated by Wolf Minerals, which shut down three years ago, the new owner, Tungsten West plc, has concluded a re-evaluation of the options for bringing the Hemerdon Mine back into production next year.

There is always a lot to talk about at the sundowners, and if you are in the area next month the August sundowner will be at the Chain Locker in Falmouth on Thursday 18th August, commencing at 5.30pm.

@barrywills