Is mining on the verge of a come-back in Cornwall?
Title: Is mining on the verge of a come-back in Cornwall?
Summary: REDRUTH, ENGLAND, UK (JUNE 10, 2021) (REUTERS) CAR DRIVING INTO SOUTH CROFTY TIN MINE CORNISH METALS CHIEF EXECUTIVE, RICHARD WILLIAMS, DRIVING INTO TIN MINE CAR DRIVING DOWN TUNNEL VARIOUS OF STEVE TARRANT, MINE MANAGER, CLIMBING LADDER WILLIAMS CLIMBING LADDER TARRANT DESCRIBING THE MINE SHAFT IN THE MINE TARRANT DESCRIBING THE MINE MORE OF TARRANT DESCRIBING THE MINE CLOSE UP OF ROCK FACE (SOUNDBITE) (English) CEO OF CORNISH METALS, RICHARD WILLIAMS, SAYING: "We've already published one economic assessment in 2017 that shows that the mine would be viable and with the increase in the resource that we've just published we think that really confirms that opinion and so the next step for us, obviously the mine workings today are flooded, is to de-water the mine and get access to the lower, what we call the tin-only resource, and get the mine back onto production." TARRANT WALKING THROUGH TUNNEL (SOUNDBITE) (English) CEO OF CORNISH METALS, RICHARD WILLIAMS, SAYING: "We think we're at the start of what we would call a technology age and there's an opportunity for Cornwall to participate in that and to supply tin to the UK needs and Europe's needs because there really aren't any domestic tin producers, none in the UK and some by-product in Spain and Portugal and there's no tin production in North America either so it really is a critical mineral to western economies." VARIOUS OF TARRANT AND WILLIAMS TALKING NEAR PITHEAD PITHEAD SIGN OUTSIDE CORNISH LITHIUM GEOTHERMAL WATER TEST SITE GEOTHERMAL WATER IN PLASTIC CONTAINERS VARIOUS OF GEOLOGIST ADAM MATTHEWS TAKING WATER SAMPLE FROM BORE HOLE (SOUNDBITE) (English) SENIOR GEOLOGIST OF CORNISH LITHIUM, LUCY CRANE, SAYING: "We're looking to produce lithium from the geothermal waters that circulate naturally at depth. I think the Faraday Institute estimate that we need 75,000 tons per annum of lithium carbonate by 2035, which is, I think, about two fifths of global supply. So there's a huge amount of work that the mineral exploration industry needs to do to find enough lithium, to find new sources of lithium, to actually be able to fuel that supply." VARIOUS OF CRANE LOOKING AT SYSTEM FOR REMOVING LITHIUM FROM WATER (SOUNDBITE) (English) SENIOR GEOLOGIST OF CORNISH LITHIUM, LUCY CRANE, SAYING: "What we're hoping to do here in Cornwall is actually produce lithium in a really environmentally responsible, low waste and low, or even net zero carbon, manner and actually produce that battery quality, battery grade product on site in Cornwall as well. So really localising supply chains for the UK automotive market." GOONHAVEN, ENGLAND, UK (JUNE 10, 2021) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF DISUSED MINE MANAGING DIRECTOR OF CORNISH DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, MIKE KING, WALKING IN DISUSED MINE (SOUNDBITE) (English) CORNISH DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, MIKE KING, SAYING: "ESG, as they talk about, Environment, Sustainability and Governance, is very, very strong in the UK as a whole and the mining industry particularly. We're a politically stable, ethical, environmentally conscious country and the mining industry here operates very much in that way. So, a corporation looking for clean supply chains, there's no better place to come than Cornwall." VARIOUS OF DISUSED MINE
Keywords: Cornwall tin mining industry copper lithium
Location: REDRUTH & GOONHAVEN, ENGLAND, UK
City: REDRUTH & GOONHAVEN, ENGLAND, UK
Topics: Europe
Reuters ID: LVA001EGYIG5J
Story Text: A Cornish tin mining company is leading the charge to revive a centuries old industry that collapsed along with the price of tin in the 1980s.
At that time tin was trading at just a few hundred dollars per ton, as opposed to around $30,000 per tonne today.
Cornish Metals say their South Crofty Mine at Redruth, which operated continuously from 1592 until it became the last mine to close in 1998, has reserves of tin much greater than previously thought.
"We've already published one economic assessment in 2017 that shows that the mine would be viable and with the increase in the resource that we've just published we think that really confirms that opinion and so the next step for us, obviously the mine workings today are flooded, is to de-water the mine and get access to the lower, what we call the tin-only resource, and get the mine back onto production," Williams told Reuters in the mine.
Demand for tin, copper and lithium, all metals found in Cornwall has boomed with the growth of electronics since the early 2000s and many in the county now believe there is a real opportunity to reopen mines that have been closed for decades.
"ESG, as they talk about, Environment, Sustainability and Governance, is very, very strong in the UK as a whole and the mining industry particularly. We're a politically stable, ethical, environmentally conscious country and the mining industry here operates very much in that way. So, a corporation looking for clean supply chains, there's no better place to come than Cornwall," said Mike King, managing director of the Cornish Development Company.
Global demand for lithium, a metal used in the production of batteries, has boomed with the growth in demand for electric cars and mobile devices.
It is found in the geothermal waters bubbling up in the granite rocks of Cornwall and is being extracted by a start up looking to transform the production of lithium into a green, carbon negative, operation.
"What we're hoping to do here in Cornwall is actually produce lithium in a really environmentally responsible, low waste and low, or even net zero carbon, manner and actually produce that battery quality, battery grade product on site in Cornwall as well. So really localising supply chains for the UK automotive market," senior geologist, Lucy Crane, told Reuters.
Cornish Lithium are currently testing a variety of methods of extracting lithium from geothermal waters and hope to remove the use of fossil fuels from the process completely.
(Production: Will Russell, Stuart McDill)