What the Lord-Lieutenant saw at Redmoor near Callington

From the top of Kit Hill you can see centuries of mining spread out across east Cornwall. Down below, the drill rigs are busy again.

The Lord-Lieutenant of Cornwall, Colonel Sir Edward Bolitho, KCVO OBE, has visited Cornwall Resources to find out more about its plans to bring metal mining back to the county, and how far its Redmoor project near Callington has come.

He was joined by Deputy Lieutenant Kate Holborow. Together they met the team behind the project, which aims to play a leading role in re-establishing Cornwall and the UK as a major source of critical minerals.

Cornwall Resources Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Strategic Minerals, which is quoted on London’s AIM market and develops projects in the UK, the United States and Australia. It completed its acquisition of Cornwall Resources and the Redmoor project in 2019.

From Kit Hill to the drill site

The visit started at the top of Kit Hill, looking out over east Cornwall’s historic mining landscape and the sites where exploration drilling is now taking place.

Redmoor sits within the historically significant Tamar Valley Mining District. Mining in and around the site goes back to Roman times and carried on into the mid-1940s. Cornwall Resources is now exploring the potential for a new tungsten, tin, copper and silver mine on that same ground.

From the hilltop, the pair headed to an active drill site to see the work in progress for themselves.

Rock from deep underground

At the company’s offices in Kelly Bray, they met geologists working on the project and toured the core storage facility. This is where samples of rock recovered from deep underground are examined and analysed to establish the extent and quality of the mineral resource.

Later in the day, they met representatives of the local community.

Dennis Rowland, Managing Director of Cornwall Resources, said: “It was a pleasure to welcome the Lord-Lieutenant and Kate Holborow and to show them first-hand the work our team is doing here at Redmoor.

“Standing on Kit Hill, looking out across an area where mining has taken place since Roman times, is a powerful reminder of the industry’s importance to Cornwall over many centuries.

“We now have an opportunity to build on that remarkable heritage and establish a new generation of metal mining, bringing skilled jobs, investment and long-term economic benefits to the area.

“We were delighted to share our progress and introduce the Lord-Lieutenant to some of the people whose expertise and dedication are helping to move the project forward.”

“In Cornwall’s DNA”

Sir Edward said: “Mining has been in Cornwall’s DNA for thousands of years and made the area a cradle of the industrial revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries. So, after 30 years since the closure of the last deep mine in Cornwall, it is great news to see the potential revival of mining around Callington to provide vital strategic minerals and well-paid employment in an environmentally sensitive way. I look forward to hearing of progress in the future.”

Europe’s highest-grade undeveloped tungsten

Redmoor is Europe’s highest-grade undeveloped tungsten resource and one of the highest-grade tungsten projects anywhere in the world. It also holds significant quantities of tin, copper and silver.

An updated mineral resource estimate, published on 26 March this year, put Redmoor’s inferred resource at 17.4 million tonnes and pointed to a possible mine life of up to 29 years. A separate economic analysis put the project’s value at US$1.5 billion.

And the project has recently secured US$9.25 million in funding from the US Government to speed Redmoor through feasibility studies and on towards a final investment decision, at a time when Western nations are looking to strengthen the security of their supply of critical minerals.

Closer to home, the project is part-funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, with Cornwall Council managing that funding through the Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly Good Growth Programme.

📷L/R: Dennis Rowland (Managing Director of Cornwall Resources), Charles Manners (Strategic Minerals' Executive Chairman), the Lord-Lieutenant of Cornwall, Colonel Sir Edward Bolitho, Deputy Lieutenant Kate Holborow and Rowan Thorne (Cornwall Resources Exploration Manager)