EXCITING NEW PLANS FOR SOUTH CROFTY

An exciting planning application for South Crofty tin mine is being submitted to Kerrier District Council today.  If successful, it will result in the mine being fully operational within about two years.  That will mean employment for about 200 miners, the probable creation of hundreds of additional jobs locally and the preservation of one of Cornwall’s most traditional – and precious - industries.

Since first acquiring South Crofty on 29 June 2001, the stated aim of Baseresult Holdings Limited has always been to re-open the mine.  An enormous amount of preparatory work has had to be achieved first however – including the highly detailed Review of Mineral Planning Permissions (ROMPs), required under the Environment Act 1995 and requested by Cornwall County Council, which has taken six months to compile. 

With that work complete, Baseresult is now ready to go public with its exciting, innovative plan – a plan that will make South Crofty commercially viable as a fully operating tin mine and that will also regenerate the area in keeping with the stated aims of the Camborne Pool Redruth (CPR) Regeneration scheme.

South Crofty closed on 6 March 1998 because it was making a loss and there was no economic sense in trying to keep it going as a business concern.  Baseresult believes that, by adopting a different work process, it can cut production costs by 30% and still maintain pre-closure production levels. That would mean turning in a healthy annual profit and maintaining the viability of the business – even at current tin price levels which are roughly the same as those when the mine closed.

‘When I was general manager at Geevor Mine near Penzance, the already efficient narrow vein mining system was modified.  That reduced costs and turned Geevor into the only deep Cornish tin mine that made a profit after the 1985 tin crisis,’ says Kevin Williams, Managing Director of Baseresult.  ‘Sadly a low tin price and the need for further mine development led to Geevor’s closure but the valuable lessons learned there have been refined and developed so that we now feel very confident of turning the South Crofty story into a tale of triumph.’

The planning application that is being submitted to Kerrier today will reveal a very different look for the South Crofty site.  Many of the external mine workings will disappear from the surface and go underground, the working centre will be at the Tuckingmill Decline – in the valley at the back of the South Crofty site – and the existing landmark headgear will be used for the mine but with all activities kept underground.  The surface will be combined and become part of a proposed new heritage centre and the remaining 27 acres will be developed for housing, commercial and leisure use.

‘We have taken everything that Candy Atherton MP, Dr Tim Williams and CPR Regeneration have proposed for the area very seriously,’ says David Stone, Chairman of Baseresult and a chartered mechanical engineer with more than 40 years experience of the mining industry.  ‘Dr Williams has publicly said that he would welcome a ‘development which brings high quality jobs, leisure facilities and housing in a context which respects and works with the industrial inheritance and heritage of the area albeit in a modern, sustainable environment’.  We agree totally with that concept and have worked hard to produce an outline plan that will see economically viable mining happening at South Crofty – together with tourism, housing and leisure facilities that will enhance and profit the local area.

‘Kevin and I both understand why people have been sceptical about the mine ever being re-opened. After all the years of fluctuation where tin mining in Cornwall is concerned, it’s hard to believe that we can operate competitively on the world market.  But we are convinced we can.  A great deal of research and mine planning has been achieved since we purchased South Crofty -because re-establishing a mine that hasn’t worked for six years takes a good deal of time and care.  There is still a lot to do but at Baseresult we are all extremely optimistic for the future.  Mining is what, as a company, we are all about.  And mining – profitable mining - is exactly what our visitors will one day be able to witness first-hand.’

As a result of the ROMPs process, various environmental aspects of the surface processing of tin ore have shown that, by placing the majority of the plant underground, noise, vibration, dust and visual impact will be removed.  This enables the site to have a dual purpose role: firstly to provide access to the mining operations and secondly to achieve mixed use regeneration on the surface.  An additional long-term benefit is that, when the mine does finally close in the future, only a small area will require remediation. 

Baseresult presented their plan to Kerrier’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee last night (Wednesday 11 February) – before making their formal submission to the District Council today.