Earlier this week, we posted how an aggregates discovery at the Drakelands tungsten mine at Hemerdon near Plymouth will – claims operator Tungsten West – have "a huge advantage over local competitors".
Clearly plans are moving apace – particularly with regard to the company's plans for aggregates.
Tungsten West to raise £5 million and start drilling #tungsten #tin #aggregates https://t.co/dpCAFwlbpc via @ExtIndustries— Extractive Industries (@ExtIndustries) September 16, 2020
Tungsten West hopes to start drilling at its tin-tungsten mine in Devon next week as it looks to raise £5 million with a private placement.
The mining company will also begin selling the 700,000 tonnes of aggregates already stockpiled on the surface within the next few weeks.
In the future, aggregates could be a key product in the whole project.
Chief executive Max Denning said that Tungsten West could produce 3.5 million tonnes of aggregates per annum depending on the quantity exported.
Mr Denning added that the company’s short-term strategy is to “saturate the entirety of the road capacity in and around Hemerdon and attack the local market which equates to half a million to 750,000 tonnes per annum.”
EDIT 29.9.20 Devon County Council has published a site monitoring report for Drakelands.
On the issue of previous noise complaints:
The operator is also considering a number of changes to the process plant which are intended to deal with the previously unresolved issue of Low Frequency noise (LFN) this is an issue about which the regulators and the local community are expecting the new plant to provide a resolution. 15.0
On the issue of secondary aggregates:
The Operators have an approach to the MPA for consent to remove secondary aggregate from the mine in order to provide additional start up finance and to provide suitable material for the development of the Sherford new settlement to the east of Plymouth. This was possible by written agreement under the provisions of Condition 19 which restricts aggregate exports (which would normally be permitted development) to 50 in any one day and the total tonnage of secondary aggregate transported shall not exceed 4,000 tonnes in any week or 150,000 tonnes in any calendar year with the condition “tail” that numbers are so restricted unless the prior consent of the Mineral Planning Authority has been secured. Following discussions with the Highway Authorities, a temporary uplift of aggregate export movements has been agreed for a 6 month period while the operators put together a formal planning application. 22.0
