May Cornish Mining Sundowner, with welcome guests from the North

There was a good turnout for the May Cornish Mining Sundowner last night, with around 25 represented at Falmouth's Chain Locker.

A surprise guest was a CSM student from half a century ago, Sam Wood, who had travelled the 350 miles from his home in Buxton just for the sundowner.

Sam Wood 2nd right

And from the opposite side of the Pennines it was good to see Laura Smith again, from the School of Earth, Environment & Sustainability at the University of Leeds. She attended the May sundowner last year, when she was visiting Cornwall as her group of social scientists was conducting research on UK sourcing of critical materials in the context of the energy transition and was developing case studies of Cornwall's lithium and tin as well as Aberdeenshire's nickel. 

This year the group has two mining-related projects, the first a piece of research looking at the dynamics of tungsten mining in Europe, with Hemerdon mine (Tungsten West) in Devon and Salau mine in France as case studies. Laura would like to speak to a range of stakeholders about the past, present and future of Hemerdon Mine. If anyone is interested please email Laura: L.e.smith1@leeds.ac.uk. Luckily last night she got the chance to talk to Klaas (KP) van der Wielen, consultant with Ausenco, who was plant metallurgist at Hemerdon from 2015-17.

Laura and KP

The other project is ‘Grounded Engagement’ and is a participatory film project, bringing together mining stakeholders to create stories about the revival of mining in Cornwall. This will involve geologists, anthropologists, community groups and sustainability consultants coming together to talk about community engagement during mineral exploration and how creative methods can help us better understand people’s experiences and perspectives. The workshop will take place in Redruth on June 3rd and 4th, and Laura would like to hear from you if you are interested in getting involved.

The price of tin has risen 45% this year, to $55,000 per tonne and China has a stranglehold on supplies so it was good to see Cornish Metals featured in an article in The Times last week. Cornish Metals' South Crofty mine in Camborne struggled after the tin price collapsed to $4000 per tonne in 1985, where it remained for two decades.

Hopefully the mine will start production again in two years time, producing 4,700 tonnes/year at an operating cost of $13,400/tonne. Pumping water from the mine is well under way and mining permits are agreed until 2071. It is hoped that the project could directly employ up to 300 people and bring more than 1000 jobs into this deprived area. There is a strategic need for more tin supplies outside of Asia and a future market expected to drive demand for tin, a critical metal, an essential ingredient in the solder required for nearly all electrical equipment.

The next Cornish Mining Sundowner is on Thursday June 18th at the Chain Locker from 5.30pm.

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