Work has begun at Plymouth’s vast Hemerdon Mine on a plant to house x-ray machines which will scan rocks to find valuable tungsten and tin.
Tungsten West Plc, the mining company working to restart production at the Hemerdon tungsten and tin mine has broken ground for the installation of X-Ray Transmission (XRT) Ore Sorters.
The AIM-listed company, which bought the mine out of receivership for £2.8m in 2019, said this marks another major step in its £45m upgrade and refurbishment plans for the processing plant at the mine, the third largest tungsten resource in the world.
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Tungsten West has already received vital kit including the seven German-manufactured XRT Ore Sorters, which will make up part of the upgraded equipment the company plans to install into the front end of the processing plant. After significant test work, Tungsten West engaged Norway-headquartered Tomra to supply the seven units, including one back-up.
The XRT ore sorters will substantially improve and streamline operations once production restarts, minimising plant downtime, increasing recovery as well as a host of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) benefits.
The Hemerdon Mine contains a huge ore body, about 300m by 200m. The granite is shot through with quartz veins containing tungsten.
Instead of just crushing the rocks to 8mm pieces and then separating out the tungsten, as predecessor Wolf Minerals did, Tungsten West has a more efficient approach.
It will take “fist-sized” 80mm lumps and scan them via an x-ray laser. Air jets will then sort the rocks containing tungsten from those that are barren.
The company can reject two thirds of the material so it doesn’t need to crush as much as Wolf, which went into liquidation in 2018, did. Only once rocks containing tungsten have been identified will they be crushed into small particles, and the tungsten separated out.
Max Denning, Tungsten West chief executive, said: "We are extremely excited to have broken ground at Hemerdon this week, marking an important milestone in the project's restart. Ensuring the UK and the western hemisphere have got access to two key critical minerals has never been more profound.”
Tungsten West has already signed an Engineering Procurement and Construction Management (EPCM) contract with Fairport Engineering Ltd, which is advancing the design and build of the processing plant.
UK-based Fairport was founded in 1982 and has developed to become one of the leading bulk materials handling and processing specialists in the country.
Once rocks have been crushed, the waste granite will be sold as aggregate for the construction industry and Tungsten West has now signed a distribution deal with GRS Roadstone, a leading construction materials provider.
Mr Denning said: “We are extremely pleased with progress at site, particularly the onboarding of Fairport to undertake the detailed design and construction of the project.
“We are looking forward to working with Fairport as we move towards restarting full production at Hemerdon, with a substantially improved processing route, through the introduction of XRT ore-sorting and upgraded processing equipment.
“The company has assembled a strong projects and operations team, and we remain confident in our progress.
"Fundamentals around our core commodities, tungsten and tin, are strong and support even better project economics compared to our feasibility study at Hemerdon. The project is, and will increasingly become, a highly strategic and important project to the UK and European supply chain of critical minerals."
Paul Fitton, Fairport chairman, said: “Fairport is extremely pleased to have been appointed under the EPCM contract to design, deliver and construct this prestigious project in the UK, particularly following recent events placing further importance on the production of 'conflict' minerals. We have established a full team on site and the design process is progressing on schedule."
Meanwhile, Tungsten West continues to recruit and has now appointed James McFarlane as managing director. He previously held the position of technical and operations director and has “unrivalled knowledge” of Hemerdon coupled with his global technical mining experience and a strong background in UK mining operations. Mr McFarlane has previously held senior roles in active mining operations in England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and Australia. Mr Denning said: “We are also delighted to announce James as our new managing director; his extensive experience will prove invaluable in the Company's development as we move closer to first production at Hemerdon."
