August Cornish Mining Sundowner: more news on the South Crofty Tin Project

An excellent sundowner last night at Falmouth's Chain Locker. There were no new faces among the 20 attendees, but quite a few familiar faces who have been absent for some time.

It was good to see Mike Hallewell, back home from his consultancy travels in South America. He is the Consulting Metallurgist for Cornish Metals' South Crofty Tin Project and he was talking to representatives from three of the companies who will be supplying equipment for the all-gravity tin concentrator. Mike is right in the photo below with David Mildren, of Gravity Mining, Doug Caffell, local representative of Canadian company Sepro Mineral Systems and Dave Goldburn of Holman-Wilfley. The concentrator will have Multi-Gravity Separators (MGS) from Gravity Mining, Falcon Concentrators from Sepro and shaking tables from Holman-Wilfley, as well as Gekko jigs.

David, Doug and Dave are considering their involvement in Physical Separation '26 in Cape Town, and it would be great to hear more of the South Crofty project at the conference, as well as applications of Gravity Mining's C910 MGS, the world's biggest gravity concentrator, which was launched in May (see Richard Mozley's gravity concentration legacy lives on).

Although dense medium separation was used at South Crofty before its closure in 1998, pre-concentration of the ore will be by sensor-based sorters, provided by TOMRA, one of the sponsors of Physical Separation '26.

Things are certainly progressing with Cornish Metals. Three weeks ago the company hosted Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, at the South Crofty mine, the visit following the UK Government's £28.6 million investment via the National Wealth Fund to support the re-opening of the mine. The occasion marked the Chancellor's first visit to Cornwall since taking office and comes as part of the Government's broader commitment to unlocking regional growth, with South Crofty highlighted as a flagship example of how investment in critical industries can support job creation and economic renewal.

Tin is a critical mineral for the clean energy transition, essential to electronics, electric vehicles, and renewable infrastructure. Reviving domestic production at South Crofty will creating over 300 direct jobs and support many more across local supply chains and regional businesses.

Rachel Reeves said "Like in every part of the UK, I am determined to unlock growth that creates jobs and puts more money in Cornish people's pockets.Our investment to revive Cornwall's proud tin mining industry and the thousands of jobs it will create for years to come is one way we are renewing the county".

The Chancellor with members of the Cornish Metals Team

The next sundowner is at the Chain Locker on Thursday September 18th, from 5.30pm.