News of progress in Cornish mining at the March sundowner

Despite the foul weather, a clash with a Cornish Institute of Engineers meeting, and with no trains running between Truro and Falmouth, there was a good turnout for last night's Cornish Mining Sundowner, which was back at Falmouth's Chain Locker.

I started lecturing at Camborne School of Mines in 1974, the year in which Alan Matthews graduated. He then spent the next half a century globe-trotting around the world from mine sites as far flung as Peru and Papua New Guinea. Along the way, he met a kaleidoscope of crazy characters and his notes and observations formed the skeleton of a book Overseas and Underground: Adventures of a Modern Cornish Miner. Recently published, it is a memoir, seasoned with humour, astonishing facts and with more than a passing nod to Alan's Cornish heritage. Alan is pictured below with fellow 1974 alumnus Nick Clarke and Pete Shepherd, who graduated from CSM in 1967.

Nick, Alan and Pete

It was good to see Jeremy Wrathall, the Founder and CEO of Cornish Lithium Ltd. His company is progressing well towards extraction of lithium from hot brines in west Cornwall and from hard rock in the east of the county.

Jeremy (right) with Pete Taylor of Mammoth Mining

It was also good to hear that excellent progress has been made over the last eight months at the South Crofty tin mine in Camborne. The company has built an experienced and highly motivated team, which remains on track to commission the mine water treatment plant in June this year, with the objective of commencing full scale dewatering operations in July, and is targeting production in 2026, coinciding with projected deficits in tin supply.

As part of the ongoing feasibility study, the Company has retained the services of sundowner regular Mike Hallewell, the former Mill Superintendent and Chief Metallurgist at South Crofty and Wheal Jane, to assist in the collection of a representative metallurgical sample and advise on metallurgical flowsheet design and optimisation work being conducted by Wardell Armstrong International, paste backfill studies being conducted by Paterson & Cooke and XRT ore sorting testwork being undertaken by TOMRA.

Tin is a critical mineral as defined by the UK, USA, and Canadian governments, but there is no primary tin production in Europe or North America. Cornwall is one of the world’s major past producing tin provinces. South Crofty is an historic, high-grade, underground tin mine that operated since the sixteenth century until its closure in 1998, and benefits from the presence of multiple shafts that can be used for future operations. It is the 4th highest grade tin resource globally, with a Mineral Resource grade of 1.6% tin (equivalent to 4.4% copper at current metals prices). The other three tin projects; Bisie in DRC, San Rafel in Peru, and Renison Bell in Tasmania (similar grade to South Crofty), are all producing underground tin mines.

The next sundowner will be at the Chain Locker on Thursday April 20th from 5.30pm.

@barrywills