Hemerdon Tungsten and Tin Mine Proposal for More Lorries to Pass Through

The Hemerdon tungsten and tin mine in Devon of Tungsten West will be subject to public consultation as it may reach a throughput of 300 movements per day. The Hemerdon mine is being taken over by Tungsten West in 2019, and by 2026, potentially 300 vehicles a day will be passing through the site.

CEO Max Denning said workers will do what they can to "minimize" the impact on the surrounding community. Currently, existing planning conditions allow for the export of up to 50 heavy trucks per day from the site.

Tungsten West proposes to increase the number of vehicles to a maximum of 150 per day for the first two years and gradually increase to 300. Vehicle movements will be monitored in agreement with the mineral planning authorities and will take place between 07:00 and 19:00 GMT Monday through Friday.

Saturday will take place between 08:00 and 14:00 GMT and will not be distributed on Sunday. Mr. Denning said. "We want to be a good neighbor and we will work with people in the surrounding communities to make sure we do everything we can to reduce the impact of the mine on their daily lives."

"We want to be part of the community, we know it takes time to build trust and we are prepared to put in the effort." He added that the mine, which will employ about 300 permanent staff, is scheduled to open later this year through early 2023.

The Hemerdon tungsten and tin mine will produce tin and sell waste granite as aggregates for the construction industry. The mine was previously operated by Australian mining company Wolf Minerals Ltd, but it applied for administration in 2018.

Hemerdon is the third-largest tungsten resource in the world and a former producing mine that operated from 2015-2018, West Tungsten said. West Tungsten purchased the Hemerdon mine in 2019 and has since completed a bankable feasibility study demonstrating extensive reserves of approximately 63.3 Mt of tungsten and 0.03% tin, as well as 37.4 Mt of saleable aggregates. The company estimates the current mine life to be 18.5 years, with the opportunity to extend through future investment.

The company said most of the infrastructure was already in place at the mine and that the previous owner, Wolf Minerals Ltd, had invested more than £170 million in the development of the mine and its processing facilities, which include an open-pit mine, mineral processing facilities and mine waste facilities. The development costs associated with restarting the mine are estimated at £44.6 million due to the extensive existing infrastructure. This existing infrastructure also means that redevelopment is expected to take only 12 months, with some restart projects already underway.

After acquiring the Hemerdon tungsten and tin mine from receivership, Western Tungsten completed extensive work that allowed it to understand and address the issues experienced by Wolf Minerals historically, including a 6,113 meter geological exploration drilling program and a number of technical studies. The company has identified the past issues experienced by Wolf Minerals that required rectifying.

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