Cornish Tin Ltd said it expected to start drilling within the coming weeks in Carleen in Wheal Vor, Cornwall.
PREPARATIONS
The mining research company is currently completing studies on ecology, environment, noise, and protection of wildlife and natural habitats.
It then expects to submit its general permitted development order (GPDO) notification to the mineral planning authority, Cornwall Council, during the second half of June 2021.
DRILL PROGRAMME
The initial drill programme, using small rigs, comprises 33 diamond drill holes.
Once finished, all drill holes will be sealed and the sites remediated within 28 days of the completion of each hole.
Approx 90% of the planned drill holes fall within the minerals safeguarding areas protected under the Cornwall Council minerals safeguarding development plan.
The plans have raised concerns among some local residents who have formed the Great Wheal Vor Community and Environment Group (GWVCEG).
Cornish Tin said it was keeping communities informed of its activities.
ENVIRONMENT
The company previously commissioned an initial ecological impact assessment (EIA) and agreed to recommendations.
These include relocating a number of drill holes and cancelling others to protect hedgerows, natural water features, wildlife (including badger setts) and monitoring any roosting bats.
Cornish Tin said it was conducting a second EIA and had offered to plant 33 saplings native to Cornwall even though the planned drilling programme would involve no loss of trees.
WATER
Site operations will involve recycled water with low consumption levels.
Cornish Tin would use a water bowser, or tank, at the drill site filled with drinking water and used for drilling operations.
The water/mud used in drilling will be collected at the surface in tanks in a closed-circuit system.
A small amount of waste (muds and drill cuttings) will be periodically removed and taken to licensed waste disposal sites and the water recycled.
The company said that drilling would have no negative impact on the subsurface water quality.
A monitoring programme will including taking downhole water samples at the start of drilling and completion of each hole to provide data on the water composition before and after drilling.
NET ZERO
Chief executive Sally Norcross-Webb added that Cornish Tin was currently a research company and that it would be “years” before it deciding the project’s economic viability.
“From the point of view of environmental protection, should the project proceed to production, its potentially high grades of tin (resulting in less waste) are among the factors which give this group of former producing mines an excellent chance of operating with a net zero carbon footprint, powered by sustainable energy.”
MINING
If the company starts mining, tin production would be underground and accessed by a gently descending ‘decline’ underground, with the portal situated well away from residential areas.
Ms Norcross-Webb added that there would be minimal surface infrastructure and no need to construct a surface processing plant in the area.
After primary processing underground, the material would be conveyed by electric or hydrogen powered trucks for secondary processing away from residential areas of Carleen and its environs.