Cornish Tin Mines

whitelackington

New member
There is such terrific demand for natural resouces that Cornish tin Mines may start to re-open

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/7074562.stm
 
whitelackington said:
There is such terrific demand for natural resouces that Cornish tin Mines may start to re-open

I suspect that you mean that the demand for tin is such that the price it currently commands has made it worthwhile re-opening a mine which was last worked in 1998.
 
Hatstand said:
If you bother to read South Crofty's website http://www.southcrofty.co.uk/index.html then you'll see that they have been fighting for a good long while to re-open the mine and that the price of tin has been the least of their problems  :annoyed:

I'm sure that you're right. I was objecting to Whitelackington's typical sweeping generalisation from a very specific new item.
 
susie said:
whitelackington said:
There is such terrific demand for natural resouces that Cornish tin Mines may start to re-open

I suspect that you mean that the demand for tin is such that the price it currently commands has made it worthwhile re-opening a mine which was last worked in 1998.
I say what I mean
and I mean what I say
 
The emphasis is on "may reopen" as there is a continuing and highly acrimonious court battle with the RDA who want the site for purposes other than mining (new leisure complex, starter homes, etc).  Baseresult are reorganising the company but, considering that attempts to reopen South Crofty since immediately after its closure have been fruitless, it's best to not hold your breath over it.  There are reserves available but the longer this drags on the more costly it gets and baseresult may yet throw in the towel.
 
Old news I'm afraid, I've been watching this with a personal interest for the past 9 years, and there are more than a few hurdles to pass even if the RDA concede. De-watering will be a nightmare, most of the stopes were drawn down making ore bodies inaccessible (or at least very hard to work) and processing will be a pain as well ( nobody would want a tin smelter near them) Would love to see it open again tho.
 
I agree with Bob on the availability of reserves.  The plant and headgear is in various stages of disintegration and will probably soon be dismantled.  If it reopens they could try processing the ore at Wheal jane and smelting it in Malaysia (which is where it was smelted during the 1970s).
 
If the Baseresult chaps were to stope out the shallow workings to within about 6-10ft of the surface,wouldnt that snooker any housing developers ?
 
I watched some "suit" from the RDA prattling on about "what we are about is technology parks and social housing blah blah"

Soon the entire countryside will be full of little technology parks full of web designers and pottery studios.... he didnt seem to have much grasp of "oversupply". A mine supports local engineering, transport, fabrication etc. etc and secondary industry in a way that yet another "tech park" does not.

...and you dont need social housing if your town has full employment....  ;) ;)
 
AndyF said:
I watched some "suit" from the RDA prattling on about.....

A good portion of the RDA's dosh comes from the Single Farm Payment (or subsidy if one prefers) in the form of modulation (originally 5% but rising to 17%).

AndyF is right - it's suits playing around with stuff they perhaps don't fully understand.

http://www.southwestrda.org.uk/what-we-do/business-growth/finance/index.shtm

Have to say that some of the stuff offer is useful. Although, as a contributor, I would much rather see South Crofty up and running again.
 
The RDA should really leave well alone, if only for the fact that there are potentially a few dozen unlocated shafts on the site (there's about 30 under the Pool Market car park just up the road).
 
Its just depressing that anything remotely industrial in this country is sneered at so readily...  >:(

...what makes me chuckle - in a I'm gonna cry kinda way - is that considering we are meant now to be a "service economy" we are so SHIT at it!!!  :furious:
 
Utterly agree hatstand.
Why has all industry been smashed by sucsessive governments,
why are they so against it.
We can't all be
double glazing / mortguage / loan agents :-\
 
Hatstand said:
Its just depressing that anything remotely industrial in this country is sneered at so readily...  >:(

Quite agree - the RDA should actually be supporting this plan to re-open the mine.


 
Hughie said:
Hatstand said:
Its just depressing that anything remotely industrial in this country is sneered at so readily...  >:(
Quite agree - the RDA should actually be supporting this plan to re-open the mine.

I can't see the RDA ever supporting the mine.  They only exist in order to tap into whatever public funding happens to be available at the time.  I thought the housing was supposed to be starter homes but I've since found out it's going to be for executive housing, although why anyone would want to live in that particular location is beyond me.  It's a right dump (geddit?)
 
The EU RoHS directive came into force in, I think, 2003 and was implemented in the UK last year. It had been under discussion before that of course. I don't know when phasing out of lead in solder was mooted but it must have been somewhere around 2001. From that moment it was obvious there would be a sudden increase in demand for tin in Europe. It is hardly surprising that tin prices have trebled. I am surprised that South Crofty - and Weal Jane come to that - were not resuscitated several years ago. Terrible waste of resources letting them go in the first place.
 
whitelackington said:
Why has all industry been smashed by sucsessive governments,
why are they so against it.

S'not just industry; s'land and development in general; surely they've just been pandering to the unthinking BANANA/NIMBY brigade resulting in stiflingly draconian planning departments apparently vetoing everything progressive, resulting in only DINKYs and LOMBARDs being able to purchase land/property.
 
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