October Cornish Mining Sundowner: addressing the skills shortage in the mining industry

Last night's sundowner was well attended and probably the last time we will be outside at the Chain Locker for several months.

It's always good to see current Camborne School of Mines staff regularly represented at the sundowners by the School's Director Pat Foster. At the UK Mining Conference in Falmouth last month Pat discussed the problems in finding the future workforce internationally and he showed how education and skills must be developed. In 1989 undergraduate mining degrees in the UK were offered by the Universities of Nottingham, Leeds, Strathclyde, Newcastle, Cardiff, North Staffs Polytechnic, Camborne School of Mines and Royal School of Mines. By 2005 only Camborne School of Mines and the University of Leeds had mining degree courses and by 2010 there was only CSM. By 2020 there were none, the CSM degree course being 'paused' and this year will be the final year of mining degree undergraduates. 

With Pat and CSM students co-President Codi Brooks.
Codi is a final year mining degree student, one of the last now that the degree has been paused

Pat stressed that there is a real need to bring back a full time Mining Engineering Degree but in the meantime a degree apprenticeship course starts this year, combining studying part-time at CSM and the rest of the time with their employer. Fourteen students have so far enrolled, but they were unable to attend the sundowner as they all work at operating mines across the UK.

Earlier in the month the course was officially launched by Princess Anne, who toured the School to learn more about its vital role in developing the UK’s Critical Minerals Strategy and global sustainable mining. After the tour, The Princess Royal was invited to unveil a special plaque to officially commemorate the opening of the new Degree Apprenticeship programme. 

Pat Foster with Princess Anne at CSM

Writing in the October issue of Materials World, James McFarlane, General Manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa with Mining Plus, UK, discussed the decline of mining-specific courses, with enrolment becoming extremely challenging due to public perception of the industry. A recent McKinsey survey of young people in the US and Canada reported that 70% of those surveyed either definitely or probably would not work in mining. He describes the pausing of the CSM undergraduate mining degree as a sobering example much closer to home that illustrates this decline as a result of lower enrollments. 

A recent report by the UK Minerals Education Forum has estimated that at least 48 mining engineering and 18 mineral processing graduates are required per year just to sustain the UK mining industry. James quotes Pat Foster as saying that the degree apprenticeship will greatly assist mine operators in addressing their shortfall in mine managers, but it will not address the requirements of the wider UK mining industry, for example in service companies, mineral processing or finance. Other than this, there is no real pathway for an 18-year-old school leaver to study mining unless they are employed by a mine operator who then puts them on this apprenticeship. Mining Engineering graduates are well received in the industry with excellent prospects, experience, responsibility and remuneration. With this in mind, it may be strange that we struggle to recruit young people into these courses and our industry today. Comments on this more than welcome!

Despite all this, there has been good news from Cornwall on the continuing development of South Crofty by Cornish Metals Inc. When the tin mine closed down in 1998 the ore was pre-concentrated by heavy medium separation but results received this month from TOMRA Sorting GmbH indicate X-ray Transmission sensor-based sorting could be a viable option, metallurgical test work and heavy liquid separation pre-concentration test work having provided excellent results, which have exceeded the company's most optimistic expectations. 

Cornish Metals said “The test work results confirm the upgrading potential of South Crofty mineralisation and enables continuation of the process design optimisation work to reduce the size of the mineral processing plant and materially lower capital costs, operating costs and environmental footprint. We expect this result will have a positive effect on the project economics, allowing for lower power consumption and a smaller process plant and therefore lower capital and operating costs.”

Finally, we are missing former CSM Association Secretary Linda Shimmield who has been a regular at the summer sundowners. She returned to her second home in Australia at the beginning of the month, but good to see that she made an appearance at the CSMA sundowner in Perth a few weeks ago. 

The next Cornish Mining Sundowner will be at the Chain Locker on Thursday November 16th, from 5.30pm.

@barrywills