UK Mining Conference continues to grow

The annual UK Mining Conference in Cornwall was created by Jeremy Wrathall, of Cornish Lithium, in 2019 and is aimed at professional and private investors, brokers, financial institutions, supply chain consultants, government representatives, trade associations, as well as mine operators and explorers. 

Cornwall is the most appropriate area of the UK to hold such an event at it is at the centre of a renewed UK mining boom because of its deposits of lithium, tin, tungsten and other critical minerals. Recent developments include geothermal-lithium extraction projects and efforts to reopen historic mines such as South Crofty. An independent report published this week highlights how Cornish Lithium is set to unlock £5bn for the UK economy, tripling the GVA of the mining and quarrying sector in Cornwall and creating a further 1000+ jobs in the county. Lithium production should support the production of 760,000 EVs per year, enough to meet around 40% of the Government's annual lithium production target by 2035. 

The conference was held on 10-11 June, and was attended by over 450 delegates from 21 countries, a far cry from the 30 delegates at its inception in 2019. There were also pre and post conference events, including a geothermal forum, a geologists workshop, an investors congress, various site visits and a gala dinner with presentation of awards.

On the evening prior to the conference I called in at my 'local' the Chain Locker to hopefully catch up with some of the delegates attending a Cornish buffet supper, and I wasn't disappointed. I shared an outside table with a group of familiar Camborne School of Mines people. Linda and Mark Shimmield are based in Adelaide, but spend time in Cornwall each summer. Linda was the founding secretary of the CSM Association, and husband Mark graduated in mining engineering in 1982 and three years later Paul Benjamin and Andrew Mitchell graduated in mineral processing. It was also good to meet Arlan Yeleusszov. from Kazakhstan, who is completing an MSc in mining at CSM.

Linda, Paul, Arlan, Andrew, me and Mark

It was also good to see Jens-Michael Bergmann and Oxana Penning, of TOMRA, who will be supplying their sensor-based sorting machines to Cornwall's South Crofty tin mine and to Devon's Tungsten West mine at Hemerdon. The company will be exhibiting at Comminution '27 in Cape Town next April.

And on the way home I bumped into another CSM alumnus, Kirk Adams, and his partner Isabelle. Kirk, who will be the MC at the conference dinner, graduated in mining engineering in 1985.

UK Mining in Cornwall is not a mineral processing conference, but the venue, Falmouth's Princess Pavillion is only a short distance from home, so, as last year, I called in for the first morning, hoping to catch up with a few familiar faces.

Delegates have come from all over the world and none so far as Australia, so it was great to see Ben Wraith and Nigel Grigg, of Gekko Systems, Melbourne. Gekko will be providing jigs to Tungsten West and likely to the South Crofty project.

Ben and Nigel

Sepro Mineral Services will be supplying Falcon gravity concentrators to South Crofty, and Doug Caffell I last saw in Cape Town in April, where Sepro were exhibiting at Physical Separation '26 and Mineral Processing Circuits '26.

Doug Caffell (right) at the Sepro booth

Dave Mildren was also at Physical Separation '26 representing Gravity Mining as a sponsor. Cornwall-based Gravity Mining produces the Multi-Gravity Separators, and Dave and his bother Treve were at the MintMech stand, talking to their team of Ashley Hares, Laurie Thornton and Alun Jones. MintMech is a Cornwall-based engineering company focused on offshore marine, drilling, automation, and specialist industrial equipment.

MintMech also provides engineering and fabrication support to Gravity Mining, handling the design and build of the huge C910 MGS chassis, drum support arms and oscillating drive mount, to improve construction and performance.

Ashley, Laurie, Treve, Dave and Alun

I was pleased that Mervyn Stevens and Dan Cairns, of Worley, UK, introduced themselves to me. They will be at Critical Minerals '26 in Cape Town in November, where Mervyn will be presenting a paper on circular battery flowsheets, incorporating process intensification, selective impurity rejection and reagent regeneration to improve lithium, nickel, cobalt, and manganese recovery.

With Mervyn and Dan

It was great to see the AFX Mixing and Pumping Technologies team. The company sponsored Biomining '20, which was scheduled to be held in Falmouth, but because of Covid became an online conference, Biomining '21 the following year.

AFX Mixing and Pumping Technologies is a UK and South Africa-linked engineering company that designs and manufactures industrial mixing systems, agitators, and peristaltic hose pumps for heavy-duty process industries. The South African side of the business began as AFROMIX in 2006 and the UK business, AFX Mixing And Pumping Technologies Limited, was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in Poole, Dorset. Because of the South African connection the team expressed strong interest in an involvement with Hydrometallurgy '27 next year in Cape Town.

The AFX team

I had to confess to Kevin Hall and Steve Kilner that I had never heard of BJD Crushers, so it was good to talk to them. The company is based in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, and traces its roots back to 1897 under the original name British Jeffrey Diamond, which is where the initials BJD come from. They produce roll and impact crushers for quarrying, cement production, waste recycling, power generation and chemical processing.

Kevin and Steve

And finally, it's always great to catch up with Lucy Crane, who also lives in Falmouth. Lucy is Managing Director of Women in Mining (UK). WIM UK is a professional organisation, founded in 2006 to promote careers in mining and minerals for women, support networking and mentorship, improve gender diversity in the industry and to highlight female leaders and role models. It works with mining companies, universities, and policy makers to improve inclusion across the sector.

Lucy (centre) and the WIM UK team

It was an interesting few hours at the meeting and, as always, Jay One Events should be congratulated on organising such a large conference so efficiently. The next UK Mining Conference in Cornwall is scheduled for the week beginning 14th June 2027, at Falmouth's Princess Pavillion.

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