With 3 000 years of mining history in Cornwall and Devon, the community thrives on the industry. Consequently, although the Drakelands tungsten mine is the first new metal mine in 40 years in Britain, it is already well integrated into the district, Mining Weekly can today report.
Wolf Minerals, an ASX- and Aim-listed speciality metals company, is developing the project.
Currently, work is well under way for production to begin mid-2015.
“We’re on budget, on time and hitting targets,” Wolf UK operations manager Jeff Harrison says.
Equally, the project has involved substantial effort in working with the local community, whether offering local employment, understanding and minimising environmental issues or even changing the name of the mine from Hemerdon to allay local concerns.
Risk management is built into the project throughout: financially, where 80% of the first five years’ production is already sold; environmentally, where the mine waste facility has gained the first Category A certificate issued by the Environment Agency under stringent new European Union mining rules; and in local poli- tics, where there are regular meetings with district and parish councils. A fund is set aside for site restoration once operations are complete in 10 to 15 years, so, even if Drakelands should suddenly cease operations for any reason, the site will still be protected.
Politically, tungsten is a strategic metal. According to the British Geological survey, this is the world’s third-largest tungsten deposit. With 80% of world reserves produced and consumed in China, this deposit is strategic to the free world.
Economically, this is a substantial project. During its life, the mine will produce more than a billion US dollars’ worth of tungsten. However, it is also efficient, with about 200 on-site jobs. For each on-site job, it is estimated that another two or three off-site jobs are created.
The environmental commitment is substantial. Huge bunds have been built and the first of 40 000 new trees are being planted on them. Wildlife preservation has been carefully examined – for example, a “five-star bat hotel”, one of three on site – has been created and a licensed bat handler with a cherry-picker has carefully moved and rehoused those bats which had not already found their way to their new homes.
There is a team of three environmental people monitoring the site, including local rivers, dust and noise, and several new bridleways have been constructed as an upgraded replacement to footpaths which ran across the mine site. Extracting the concentrate uses mostly physical processes, with no hazardous waste.
Despite the size of the operation on some 300 ha, because of the extreme density of tungsten, just one 20 t truck will be needed each day to carry away the concentrate to market.
“Many of those working on this mine were trained locally. We’ve often worked around the world and have come back here to do a world-class job,” says Harrison.
With dozens of diggers, earthmovers and trucks on site, the project is well set to continue South West Britain’s strong history in mining, whether on site, in the community or occasionally in the local pub, the Miners Arms.
See also page 4.