Cornish Metals Inc expects wet commissioning of the mine water treatment plant to begin in June and continue into July, before dewatering starts in August at the South Crofty tin project in Cornwall.
PROGRESS
The plant, estimated to cost £6.6 to £7 million, is designed to treat 25,000 cubic metres of mine water per day.
Mine dewatering to take some 18 months to complete, based on historic pumping records.
The Canadian company, which had previously anticipated a May start, said that recent progress at the site includes installation of all tanks, except the CO2 and deep cone thickener.
The remaining items are expected to be in place by the end of May.
All structural steelwork and walkways around the tanks are assembled and the pipework connecting the tanks and tank valve installation is underway.
The discharge pipes have been installed from the plant into the Dolcoath deep adit which is the the historic drainage tunnel running northwards from South Crofty beneath Pool and Camborne to Roscroggan.
A turbine will be added ahead of the discharge point to generate up to 15% of the electricity required to operate the plant.
NEW COOK’S KITCHEN
The first submersible pump has been successfully tested offsite and is ready for installation into New Cook’s Kitchen shaft, with a second pump due to be delivered by the end of May.
Piping from New Cook’s Kitchen to the plant is “substantially complete” and the 11kV power supply is scheduled to be in place in June to operate the pumps.