October Cornish Mining Sundowner: great news from Camborne School of Mines

A reasonable turn-out for last night's Cornish Mining Sundowner at the Chain Locker in Falmouth. It was good to talk to a few students from Camborne School of Mines (CSM), and apologies for the quality of the second photo.

There was great news from CSM this month that a pioneering new research centre, designed to accelerate critical mineral extraction in Cornwall and Devon, has received a multi-million pound funding boost.

The new centre, called the Critical Minerals Accelerating the Green Economy Centre, based at CSM, has received £4.5 million in new Government funding. The centre will not only help address the challenges faced in sustainably securing fresh and innovative access to critical minerals, crucial for the delivery of clean and digital technologies, but will also have the potential to create 2-3,000 new jobs in the region.

The new centre has been created in partnership with multiple businesses, including Petrolab, a sponsor of next month's Process Mineralogy '24 and Critical Minerals '24 conferences in Cape Town.

The Centre will help to implement the UK critical minerals strategy by accelerating commercialisation of projects for domestic production of critical minerals. It will also help towards responsible sourcing of raw materials, including rare earths, cobalt and copper, worldwide by expanding the associated industry cluster that is already operating globally.  

Professor Frances Wall, lead investigator for the Centre said, ‘This is a wonderful opportunity to focus on helping our industry colleagues accelerate all the businesses in the region related to critical minerals. We are collaborating with local government and community organisations, aiming to be an exemplar of sustainable regional development from use of our natural resources, and have global reach with our solutions.’  

New mines and combined metals, heat and power in Cornwall and Devon will help secure supplies of the key ingredients needed in digital technologies and advanced manufacturing, including lithium, tin and tungsten. Each new mine will employ 200-350 staff in high-value jobs that are much needed, and as many as five times the number of indirect jobs. 

The International Energy Agency estimates that up to 40 times more lithium and seven times more rare earths may be needed by 2040 than is presently produced each year.  And south west England, Cornwall in particular, has six active exploration and development companies, a history of metals mining that led the world and some 70 service and equipment companies, most of them small businesses, with a global client base.   

And more good news from CSM. The website for the undergraduate mining engineering degree, which restarts again in October next year, is now online, including UCAS code, entry criteria and module content. This will be the UK's only undergraduate mining engineering degree.

A lot is happening in Cornwall, and the next sundowner will be on Thursday November 21st from 5.30pm at the Chain Locker.