Holcim UK trials autonomous technology in Devon. What will be the human cost?

Mineral operators applying to extend or establish a new quarry will typically emphasise the number of jobs they will preserve or create, hoping to influence councillors on planning committees. 

Some companies even go to the press with tales of jobs that would be lost if quarry plans don't go ahead. In 2015, for instance, the headline East Devon quarry block ‘will put jobs at risk’ appeared locally:

THE livelihoods of East Devon quarry employees will be at risk if proposals for a 100-acre quarry on the outskirts of Ottery St Mary do not go ahead. 

Officials from Aggregate Industries, which runs quarries at Blackhill on Woodbury Common, and Venn Ottery, have confirmed that this is the reality if they cannot proceed with their plans to quarry Straitgate Farm near Daisymount roundabout. 

It is not clear exactly how many jobs could be affected but it is thought to be less than 10.

The reality was indeed less than 10. In the supporting statement for its planning application to quarry Straitgate Farm, Aggregate Industries – now Holcim UK – confirmed: 

3.5.8 The number of full time employees at the site would be three. 

It’s a small number, although still exaggerated because: 

3.5.2 Mineral working would be carried out on a campaign basis, comprising two or three working periods or campaigns, with each campaign lasting five to seven weeks. 

Nevertheless, the number of jobs in the UK quarrying industry has been declining for decades. Back in 2012 we posted: 

Even over the last 10 years there has been a dramatic fall in employee numbers in sand and gravel, with the UK Minerals Yearbook reporting over 8000 employees in 2001, but under 3000 in 2010. The HSE says the "industry has difficulty attracting and recruiting staff" and "anecdotal evidence suggests an ageing workforce".

It’s not clear where the sand and gravel employment numbers have gone in recent years, although they are unlikely to have increased, judging by these ONS numbers. 

In 2019, the ONS estimated that 57% of jobs in the "quarry workers and related operatives" sector were at risk from automation.

We first posted about autonomous vehicles in 2018, when they were being trialled at a Swedish quarry. 

Last year, autonomous vehicles were trialled in Devon, when Sibelco hosted the UK’s first driverless dump truck at its china clay quarry near Plymouth. 

Last week, Holcim UK announced that it had also chosen Devon to trial autonomous technology, again at a china clay quarry processing secondary aggregates near Plymouth.

HOLCIM UK have taken part in a trial utilizing AI-powered autonomous technology to operate an excavator. The trial, which took place at the company’s Lee Moor sand and gravel quarry [sic], near Plymouth, Devon, involved a 23-tonne Develon crawler excavator fitted with autonomous technology from Swiss start-up Gravis Robotics. 

Once set-up and testing had taken place, the machine was tasked with feeding the hopper of a screener with sand and gravel at target performance rate of 100 cycles per hour. During two days of testing the machine was able to average 133 cycles per hour, shifting 1,500 tonnes of material daily with 99% accuracy and minimal spillage. 

Paul Mitchinson, head of mobile plant at Holcim UK, was quoted as saying: 

"We were excited to be able to take part in the trial at one of our quarries and see how autonomous technology could work and be successfully integrated into day-to-day operations.

"The introduction of this type of technology in our industry could lead to greater productivity through increased output and consistency, improved safety on site, and improved sustainability through optimizing the performance of large plant equipment.

"As a company, we are continuously seeking to innovate and to improve our ways of working in order to enhance productivity. This includes exploring how artificial intelligence (AI) can support what we do to help us be more efficient." 

For greater productivity and efficiency – read fewer jobs. 

Holcim has had its sights on autonomous technology for some time.

[Press release] Volvo Autonomous Solutions and Holcim Switzerland have partnered to jointly test and further develop the use of autonomous electric haulers in a limestone quarry: https://t.co/dcw0DXks06 #Futureoftransportation #autonomousvehicles pic.twitter.com/Oy11nheyQE

— Volvo Group (@VolvoGroup) November 3, 2021

Last month, it was announced that Holcim had signed "a ground-breaking agreement".

    

HD #HyundaiXiteSolution, owner of #HyundaiInfracore & its #DEVELON brand; & @GravisRobotics, have signed a deal with @Holcim outlining a partnership for development & commercialisation of #autonomous tech & its deployment across Holcim's quarrying ops https://t.co/L3xNDwSaQq pic.twitter.com/YPQGGRR2v6

— International Mining (@im_mining) April 11, 2025

HDX and Gravis Robotics are collaborating to implement jointly developed autonomous technology using Develon’s equipment across Holcim’s operations, with a particular focus on quarry environments including: 

* Truck loading of blasted rock for efficient material transport 

* Feeding hoppers of mobile crushers and screeners with extracted materials 

* Confined material handling at asphalt and aggregate plants 

* Stockyard management, optimizing material flow and storage. 

Holcim’s quarrying and processing sites combined with their operational expertise provides the consortium with a global platform that can be used to enable the integration of autonomous heavy construction equipment. 

Through the adoption of autonomous machinery, Holcim want to realize increased productivity through increased output and consistency, increased safety by reducing the number of people on site…

Quarry operatives at Holcim UK, and planning committees, be warned.

Devon sand & gravel sales in 2023: lowest on record – down 29% on previous year

Oh dear. Pity poor Holcim UK (formerly Aggregate Industries). 

In the very same year the company finally won permission to quarry Straitgate Farm after a near decade-long struggle, the bottom fell out of Devon’s aggregates market, and sales of sand and gravel slumped by an eye-watering 29% – down from 521,000 tonnes to just 370,000 tonnes. 

What terrible timing. 

The recently published South West Aggregates Working Party Annual Report 2023 says: 

Devon’s sales of sand and gravel have remained fairly consistently around the half million tonne mark since 2011. Prior to 2023, 2020 had seen the lowest figure of the decade with sales of 0.437mt (possibly attributable to the effects of the Covid pandemic) whilst 2021 saw a rise back up to 2018 levels, with a sales figure of 0.54mt. 2022 sales remained on a similar level with a sales figure of 0.52mt but 2023 witnessed a fairly dramatic drop down to 0.37mt taking over from 2020 as the lowest figure of the decade by a reasonable margin. 

However, the trend has been clear for a long time.

 

No wonder the company said it would need to mothball Straitgate Farm immediately following implementation of the planning permission. 

Why such a dramatic fall in the county’s sand and gravel sales? The same report says: 

2.23 Devon has suggested that the decrease in sales this year is a result of the economic uncertainty brought about by market volatility, worldwide events and the pandemic, which the UK economy is still recovering from. 

But that hardly explains a 29% slump, when sales of recycled aggregates, crushed rock, and secondary aggregates in the county fell by a far more modest 9%, 5%, and 2% respectively in the same period. 

The 29% fall is noticeably more than in the South West as a whole, where sales fell by 18%:

In 2023, aggregate sales of land won sand and gravel in the region totalled 2.26mt, a decrease from 2022’s sales figure of 2.75mt

The contrast is even starker nationally. The MPA’s 11th Annual Mineral Planning Survey Report says that in 2023 across the country, “land-won primary aggregate sales decreased by 5.3%”, with sand and gravel down 7.1%. 

So why 29%? As the largest producer of sand and gravel in the county, was part of the decline self-inflicted? Did Holcim UK drop the ball? Could its prices for instance be too high? 

And what prospect now for expensive HVO-fuelled 2.5-million-mile haulage schemes? How will the market ever tolerate that? 

Things have not improved across the country since 2023. In February this year, the MPA reported: 

...ready-mixed concrete, ubiquitous to all types of construction projects, faced a 10.8% annual decline in 2024, reaching its lowest level in over 60 years. Primary aggregates sales declined by 2.6%, with sand and gravel particularly impacted due to weak demand from the struggling ready-mixed concrete market, where it is mostly used. 

The heady days of the 80s and 90s, when sales of unsustainable primary virgin land-won sand and gravel exceeded a million tonnes a year, are fortunately long gone. Now the more sustainable alternatives of secondary and recycled aggregates are taking over. Just in the last 10 years, the trend has been only one way, as the graph below shows. In Devon, land-won sand and gravel is now out-sold by both secondary and recycled aggregates, having gone from being 39% of the mix to just 26% – a trend we previously pointed to here and here.

Glendinning wash plant ‘reduces reliance on imported sands’

In 2021, a planning application by Glendinning to extend Linhay Hill Quarry, a limestone quarry near Ashburton adjacent to the A38 in the Dartmoor National Park in Devon, was approved by the Dartmoor National Park Authority – as we posted about here. 

Last week, it was reported that the site’s main wash plant has been upgraded: 

Creating various limestone aggregates from 6mm to 20mm, the site also produces 0-4mm washed, crushed aggregate fines (black concrete sand). This black sand is mixed with traditional china clay sand, before being used in ready-mixed concrete at the firm’s plants within the quarry and in nearby Plymouth and in Exeter. 

By being able to use a larger percentage of the black sand within the ready-mixed concrete plant, Glendinning have been able to reduce their reliance on imported sands, lowering their carbon footprint and reducing truck transport on local roads.

Articles from the February 2025 issue Quarry Management are now available to view on Agg-Net - https://t.co/9ZnL5Bz2TC - Site report on new PowerX Equipment wash plant at Glendinning’s Linhay Hill Quarry; Screens & Grizzlies; Institute of Quarrying; Special reports pic.twitter.com/0G4DNhg7PX

— Agg-Net (@aggnetweb) March 6, 2025

Tungsten West wins permit for Mineral Processing Facility, but loses CEO

Following on from a public consultation exercise, Tungsten West, the operator of the Hemerdon tin and tungsten mine near Plympton in Devon, has today announced it has been granted a permit to operate its Mineral Processing Facility – the source of complaints by local people last time the mine was operational – "within the limits previously agreed between the Company and the Environment Agency": 

This is the last of the key permits required to further progress the Project. 

However, earlier this month, it was also announced that the company’s CEO has resigned "with immediate effect". 

Tungsten West’s plans to increase sales and HGV movements of secondary aggregates were approved by Devon County Council earlier this year.

Tungsten West has received the final permit for the Mine Processing Facility. This momentous achievement is a key milestone for our company, completing the suite of permits needed to process tungsten, tin, and aggregates.
A huge thank you to all team members, past and present🙌

— Tungsten West Plc. (@TungstenWest) June 12, 2024

DCC approves Tungsten West secondary aggregates plans for Hemerdon Mine

Last month, Devon County Council approved Tungsten West’s secondary aggregates plans for Hemerdon Mine, plans that were last posted about here. 

Tungsten West’s planning application was: 

Variation of Condition 19 of planning permission 9/42/49/0542/85/3 (DCC/3823/2015) (dated 16 February 2017) to remove weekly and annual tonnage caps on the export of secondary aggregates and to amend the condition to introduce restrictions on hours of export and prohibit exports at the weekend and on bank holidays, Hemerdon Mine, Plympton  

The Officer's Report can be found here. 

Under Need and Market Considerations, the Council made the case that: 

7.10 The Devon Minerals Planning Monitoring Report 2021 (February 2023) reports that the MPA are underdelivering on their objective to have a 20% proportion of total sales of land won and secondary aggregates within wider Devon accounted for by secondary aggregates, with the latest figure stated as 17.7%. 

The Devon Minerals Planning Monitoring Report 2021 can be found here, and here. 

Later in December, Tungsten West announced a £1.8m lifeline, and then a £9.1m loss.

 

Plymouth's tungsten mine in danger of going bust https://t.co/BXLNSYrS0d https://t.co/BXLNSYrS0d

— Plymouth Live (@Plymouth_Live) December 22, 2023

Secondary aggregates continue to outsell sand & gravel in Devon

This month, Devon County Council published its 12th Local Aggregate Assessment. The LAA is:

… published annually to inform development and monitoring of Minerals/Local Plans, including recent sales and revisions to levels of reserves and the length of landbanks. 

According to the LAA, sales of land-won sand and gravel in the county have continued to flatline, with 0.521 million tonnes sold in 2022, down 4% from 0.541 the previous year. As the chart below shows, sales have not recovered since the financial crisis of 2008.

Sales of secondary and recycled aggregates across the county, however, tell another story. 

In 2022, secondary aggregates continued to outsell sand and gravel. The LAA explains:

3.3.1 The major source of secondary aggregates in Devon is the by-products derived from the extraction and processing of china clay in the Lee Moor area of Devon, which in 2022 accounted for 85% of the county’s production of secondary aggregates (an increase of approximately 6% from 2021). For each tonne of saleable china clay, up to nine tonnes of other materials are produced, with two main elements capable of use as secondary aggregate:  stent (rock), which can be used as general fill or, after crushing and screening, for other aggregate purposes; and  tip sand (washed material comprising quartz, unaltered feldspar and mica) which, with grading and washing, can be used for a variety of aggregate purposes including concrete and building sand. 

And sales of recycled aggregates grew in 2022, approaching sales of sand and gravel. 

Despite the current economic uncertainty, sales of recycled aggregates increased by approximately 12% in 2022 from the previous year.

The LAA describes recycled aggregates as: 

the waste arising from construction, demolition and excavation activity comprises a range of materials, of which the ‘hard inert’ elements (e.g. concrete, bricks, stone) can be recycled for use as aggregates.

With regard to future availability, there are hundreds of millions of tonnes of china clay mining waste piled all over Devon and Cornwall. A planning application by Aggregate Industries to continue to work secondary aggregates at Lee Moor was approved in 2019. In relation to recycled aggregates, according to the LAA: 

4.2.9 ... the annual processing capacity of Devon’s fixed CDEW recycling facilities (estimated as 1.28 million tonnes in the 2020/21 Devon Waste Plan AMR) is more than adequate for current and potentially greater levels of recycled aggregates production.

The hope must be that sales of the more sustainable secondary and recycled aggregate alternatives will displace the need for digging up primary virgin sand and gravel, including material from the Budleigh Salterton Pebble Beds. 

Hanson’s Town Farm Quarry, near Burlescombe, is one source of material from the Pebble Beds. The LAA reports that the site was mothballed this year: 

2.5.7 Town Farm forms part of Hanson’s Whiteball operation, for which the processing plant lies in Somerset adjacent to its border with Devon. An application for the continuation of extraction of existing sand and gravel reserves for a further 10 years was received in November 2022 and permission was granted in March 2023. The site was still operational in 2022, however, it was temporarily mothballed on 1st February 2023. 

So, clearly, material from the Budleigh Salterton Pebble Beds – the same material that underlies Straitgate Farm –  is not in such high demand, nor so profitable, for Hanson to be persuaded to keep the gates at Town Farm open. 

Tungsten West resurrects secondary aggregates plans for Hemerdon Mine

Having been dropped last November, Tungsten West has resurrected its plans to increase sales and HGV movements of secondary aggregates from its tungsten and tin mine at Hemerdon near Plymouth: 

To deliver the Project economically and sustainably, the Company will produce secondary aggregates, a by-product from mining which, once sold, will provide an early revenue stream and reduce the storage of barren rock and associated opex at site.  

To enable the delivery of the aggregates business, and to optimise the core tungsten and tin business, the Company has submitted a section 73 application to vary the tonnage cap associated with the existing permission for 50 truck movements per day from the site. Traffic and market studies carried out in conjunction with the application highlight that the Company can plug a gap in the market for high-quality, secondary aggregates in Devon with a minimal increase in overall heavy vehicle traffic. Tungsten West has actively involved the local community, local councils and regulatory bodies in the process, participating in regular discussions and offering a direct line to the Company for all stakeholders. 

In addition, after the previous operator caused low frequency noise disturbance and sleep deprivation to the local community, Tungsten West has submitted a new permit application to the Environment Agency following plant modifications and noise trials: 

The Company has worked closely with the Environment Agency and Devon County Council throughout the entire permitting and noise trial process and anticipates the decision regarding the permit approval to be forthcoming within the coming months.

Lastly, despite having previously announced a near halving of its workforce in June, the company is now looking for a further 25% cut in staff costs: 

...Tungsten West has initiated a further evaluation of the financing structure of the Company, whereby spending priority has been given to activities relating to planning and permitting, environmental compliance and funding, as these are essential to the continued progress of the Project.   

Therefore, in order to prioritise these activities, a proposed cost reduction programme will need to be implemented, including a further approximate 25% reduction in staff costs via redundancies, reduced hours and resignations. In line with this, the Company has initiated a collective consultation process with staff and expects to announce the results of this exercise in September 2023. In another move to manage liquidity, the Company is in the process of agreeing deferred payment plans and restructuring supply agreements with a number of creditors.

Secondary aggregate sales in Devon continue to rise – whilst sand & gravel flatlines

In 2021, sales of secondary aggregates in Devon exceeded sales of sand and gravel – according to Devon County Council’s 11th Local Aggregate Assessment, published last week.

This is not a one-off – as previous LAAs confirm. It has been the case for the last 4 years. Indeed, sales have been growing for some time. Back in 2012, sales of secondary aggregates were 24% lower than sales of sand and gravel; in 2021, they were 30% higher. 

Devon County Council commented: 

the three years sales averages for... sand and gravel remain below the ten years sales averages for the second consecutive year [whilst] sales of secondary aggregates have increased by 14% in 2021 from the previous year 

With hundreds of millions of tonnes of this waste product blighting the landscape in Devon and Cornwall, secondary aggregates are a sustainable alternative to primary virgin aggregates – the sort that will be dug up with untold damage at Straitgate Farm. 

In the LAA, the Council explains: 

3.3.1 The major source of secondary aggregates in Devon is the by-products derived from the extraction and processing of china clay in the Lee Moor area of Devon, which in 2021 accounted for 79% of the county’s production of secondary aggregates (a reduction of approximately 20% from 2020). For each tonne of saleable china clay, up to nine tonnes of other materials are produced, with two main elements capable of use as secondary aggregate:  stent (rock), which can be used as general fill or, after crushing and screening, for other aggregate purposes; and  tip sand (washed material comprising quartz, unaltered feldspar and mica) which, with grading and washing, can be used for a variety of aggregate purposes including concrete and building sand. 

3.3.5 Two new sources of secondary aggregates are included in this year’s figures, one of which is Hemerdon Mine, near Plymouth, where the current operator, Tungsten West, has expressed a clear intention to re-start the winning of tungsten and tin, and commenced commercial secondary aggregates production in February 2021 through a new company called Aggregates West. At the time of publication of this report, Aggregates West were also seeking to vary a condition on the mining consent which currently restricts the export of secondary aggregates to 50 HGVs per day. The second new site is the incinerator bottom ash (IBA) recycling facility at Hill Barton Business Park, Exeter, which was granted permission in November 2019 and became operational in February 2020. Whilst the upturn in secondary aggregates sales figures for 2021 can be partially attributed to these two new sites, it is considered that the significance of Hemerdon as a source of secondary aggregate could increase in the future if the current planning application is approved. 

Since this was written, and as we posted, Tungsten West’s plans to increase HGV movements of secondary aggregates from the Hemerdon Mine from 50 to 200 per day have been put on hold, after its planning application DCC/4314/2022 – which attracted hundreds of objections – was withdrawn. 

Meanwhile, and as we record here, the new LAA charts the fall in Devon's sand and gravel landbank from 7.6 years in 2020 to 6.5 years in 2021. This is less than the 7 years suggested by the NPPF, which allowed the Planning Inspectors to boldly claim "a shortage of sand and gravel in Devon" and thereby "great weight in favour" of permitting mineral extraction of the 1 million tonnes – a relatively minor 2 years' worth of additional landbank – at Straitgate Farm. 

Inexplicably, the Inspectors chose to ignore the 23 million tonne resource at Penslade, sitting next door to Aggregate Industries’ processing plant at Hillhead, which will provide Devon with nearly 50 years' worth of the very same material.

Tungsten West’s secondary aggregates plan for Hemerdon Mine on hold

Tungsten West has withdrawn its planning application DCC/4314/2022 to increase HGV movements from Plymouth's tungsten and tin mine at Hemerdon from 50 to 200 per day. The application to facilitate the sale of secondary aggregates had attracted hundreds of objections. The company says it has listened: 

As a new company, we’ve learned a lot from this experience – the strength of feeling from local people about the volume of traffic and times of movements was severely underestimated, but we’ve heard you, we’ve listened and we’re taking action. We still believe that selling our secondary aggregates is the right thing to do, not only because it makes good business sense to minimise waste and maximise income streams, it will also benefit the environment, as secondary aggregates produce approximately 25% of the carbon footprint of primary aggregates. However, we are not prepared to develop a secondary aggregates business in a way that costs us the relationships we are trying to build with the local and wider community... In the short-term, we will halt the sale of secondary aggregates. Once we are in production, we will look to work within the HGV movement limits of 50 per day specified in our existing planning permission as our starting position. 

Previous posts on the Hemerdon Mine can be found here.

The operator which is planning to restart production said it is 'serious about being a good neighbour'https://t.co/Lz2lhFhUPP

— Plymouth Live (@Plymouth_Live) November 19, 2022

EDIT 12.12.22

Half Year Results for the six months ended 30 September 2022:

Sales of aggregates continued throughout the reporting period, with £117,000 revenue being recognised. The Group ceased its production of aggregates from waste material left by the previous operator after selling 102,000 tonnes of material and demonstrating the ability to establish a market for the product. Aggregates production will recommence as the mineral processing ramp up completes. Product mix and volumes will be in line with mine waste facility strategy and valid permits.

Sustainable aggregates

Over the years we have posted about secondary aggregates and recycled aggregates, both of which represent more sustainable alternatives to primary or virgin aggregates. 

Here's another example, this time from a Lanarkshire company that has recently launched a new range of low-carbon aggregate produced from incinerator bottom ash, together with recycled sand produced from street sweepings and gully waste:

Scottish waste management solutions company @LevenseatWM is the fist company in the country to achieve 'end-of-waste' status for is new low carbon aggregates product range ♻️ #ScotlandIsNow #ClimateActionhttps://t.co/fEZASLu1qM pic.twitter.com/bRVux1EdFQ

— Scottish Development International (@ScotDevInt) October 11, 2021

Levenseat’s low carbon product offering is designed to help construction firms lower their building costs while also reducing their environmental impact by replacing virgin aggregate within concrete – for each tonne of recycled aggregate used, 29kg CO2 is saved from being emitted. In 2020 2.7 million tonnes of IBA was produced from Energy from Waste plants in the UK. 

Earlier this year, we posted about carbon-negative aggregates. This has now helped Jackson Civil Engineering secure an Environment Agency Flood & Coast 2021 Excellence Award. O.C.O’s aggregates sales and development manager said: 

Not only have we been able to show that carbon-negative aggregates have a role to play in sustainable construction and the road to carbon zero, but also, just as importantly, that they offer a credible alternative to using up our finite resources of traditional sand and gravel. 

I really feel the tide is beginning to change; people will have to start looking for alternatives and I think this award will open their eyes to the fact there is a manufactured product that can be used in various applications – such as asphalt and Type 1 concrete – which is both proven to work and is environmentally friendly.

Tungsten West plans London IPO to raise funds to restart Hemerdon mine

Tungsten West PLC – operator of the Hemerdon tungsten and tin mine near Plymouth – plans to list on the London AIM market on 21 October to raise funds to recommence production:

Tungsten West's business plan also includes selling the significant volumes of aggregates that are produced as a by-product from the primary mining operations at Hemerdon, which was historically treated as a waste product from operations.

Hemerdon Mine operator sets out secondary aggregates ambitions

Tungsten West – the operator of the tin and tungsten mine at Hemerdon near Plymouth, the mine "formerly known as Drakelands", and subject of previous posts – has issued an EIA Scoping Request to Devon County Council PRE/1523/2021 in connection with its proposal to increase the output of secondary aggregates.

Tungsten West has formed a subsidiary, Aggregate West. The company claims: 

4.7 For a viable operation, Aggregate West Limited’s business plan allows for incremental growth over a 5‐year period. Assuming 20 tonnes of aggregate per HGV and movements 6 days per week, this is likely to require an average number of daily exportation movements as follows:

Year 1 (2022): 150 Aggregate HGV Exportations 

Year 2 (2023): 150 Aggregate HGV Exportations 

Year 3 (2024): 200 Aggregate HGV Exportations 

Year 4 (2025): 250 Aggregate HGV Exportations 

Year 5 (2026): 300 Aggregate HGV Exportations 

Year 5+ (2027+): (To be agreed as maximum based upon assessment of highway capacity including mitigation required). 

Assuming 50 working weeks per year, the company’s ambitions are seen to grow from 900,000 to 1.8 million tonnes per annum. 

According to the supply deal announced last month with GRS, a proportion of the aggregate would be loaded onto ships at Plymouth for transportation to other ports around Britain, and onto trains at Marsh Mills for onward distribution via the rail network.  

Local residents are understandably concerned about the scale of such ambitions.

DCC issues 9th and 10th LAA

Devon County Council is tasked with producing an annual Local Aggregate Assessment which includes information on sand and gravel production and reserve levels. 

The Council's 8th LAA was published in May 2020. At the time, we posted DCC says correlation 'broken' between aggregate sales and housing completions. It confirmed the long-term decline in sand and gravel sales in Devon. Since then, sales of sand and gravel have fallen further – as shown here. Last month, we posted that Sales of sand and gravel in Devon were down 12.6% in 2020.

This week, the Council published its 9th and 10th LAAs for the years 2010-2019 and for 2011-2020 respectively. The LAA highlights the ongoing decline in sales: 

For the three years to 2020, the average sales were 2.439 million tonnes for crushed rock and 0.493 million tonnes for sand and gravel, both falling below the ten years average for the first time in recent years. 

There has also been a significant "reassessment" of mineral reserves during 2020. 

At the end of 2019, reserves of sand and gravel were 4.199 million tonnes, and reserves of crushed rock 95.378 million tonnes. In 2020, after sales of 0.437 million tonnes of sand and gravel and 2.289 million tonnes of crushed rock, reserves had fallen to 2.880 and 81.323 million tonnes respectively – a loss in reserves of 0.9 million tonnes and 11.8 million tonnes in excess of sales. 

How careless. The LAA says: 

This can be attributed to a reassessment of reserves by operators. 

In other words, operators had overestimated the available resource, even misrepresenting the benefit at the time of applying for planning permission – something Aggregate Industries has made a habit. 

What about more sustainable sources of aggregates? The most recent LAA tells us that "despite the pandemic, sales of secondary aggregates increased by 2% in 2020 from the previous year": 

In addition to the existing sources of secondary aggregates outlined above, [there are] other potential sources that may be available in the future. This includes secondary aggregates from the processing of waste from tungsten and tin extraction at Drakelands Mine, near Plymouth, which commenced extraction in summer 2015 but ceased in autumn 2018. A new owner is looking to recommence operations at the site shortly.

Drakelands operator strikes secondary aggregates supply deal

Waste granite from tungsten mine boosts construction supply chain https://t.co/si06uiiD7T #constructionnews #construction #businessnews pic.twitter.com/4ZFELjXf3w

— Construction Index (@TCIndex) September 2, 2021

GRS has joined forces with Tungsten West, operator of recently reopened Hemerdon tungsten-tin mine near Plympton, Devon, in a multi-million pound venture to sell high-quality secondary aggregate and transport it nationwide mostly by sea and rail. 

Starting this month, GRS expects to ramp-up secondary aggregate volumes from Hemerdon to distribute more than a million tonnes each year for the next decade and beyond, the company said. After a 10-mile lorry journey from Hemerdon, the aggregate will be loaded onto ships at Plymouth for transportation to other ports around Britain. The aggregate will also be hauled five miles to nearby Marsh Mills where it can be loaded onto trains for onward distribution via the rail network. Through its Cornish subsidiary Maen Karne and London-based business Walsh, the GRS Group already transports secondary granite from the Cornish China Clay industry into London by sea and rail.

New company set up to exploit secondary aggregates at Drakelands

An ex-Aggregate Industries geologist is helping the new owner of Drakelands – the tin and tungsten mine near Plymouth at Hemerdon that fell into insolvency in 2018 – exploit the mine’s aggregates resource. Tungsten West is hoping to supply secondary aggregates to the Devon market and beyond – as we posted in Drakelands operator to begin selling 700,000 tonnes of stockpiled aggregates – with aim to “saturate” local market.

According to Devon County Council's latest monitoring report:  

There has been considerable assessment over the past year about the nature and potential extent of the aggregate resource at Hemerdon. The aggregates production is currently in experimental and demonstration phases and a new company, Aggregates West (AW) is producing a variety of different aggregates and sands from the killas and granite overburden and the Dense Media Separation solids from the process plant which were previously tipped at the foot of the Mine Waste Facility. A specialist geologist (Touchstone Geology) has been appointed who is a competent person to assess these matters to feed into the Definitive Feasibility Study. The assessment has included processing methods, capitalising the existing stockpiles and future mine wastes that might be produced with the use of the ore sorting technology. Some of the aggregates produced have also been assessed by the Devon County Council Materials Laboratory as being suitable for road surfacing and construction. AW has now also become a member of the Regional Aggregates Working Party and has stated its intention to contribute to the amount of secondary aggregates produced in Devon. 

Tungsten West has been exploring various options for restarting production:  

The firm which bought the Drakelands mine near Plympton for £2.8million 18 months ago has completed a feasibility study and is now looking at options for reopening the site. Tungsten West Ltd has said it will look to raise finance off the back of the feasibility report, and that it will cost £30million to £40million to restart production.

Earlier this month, the Sunday Times reported that Tungsten West plans a £100 million IPO:   

Tungsten West is hoping to raise up to GBP20 million in equity and a further GBP40 million in debt, according to the Times, adding it is backed by former JP Morgan Chase & Co banker Ian Hannam and Moneysupermarket.com Group PLC co-founder Simon Nixon. 

Ian Hannam-backed Tungsten West has lined up a £100m AIM float for the revived Hemerdon mine in Devonhttps://t.co/OsLul03AXW

— Jamie Nimmo (@JamieNimmo63) May 16, 2021

However, villagers fear the reopening of Drakelands will affect their health, homes and lives:

Residents living next to a closed-down tungsten mine are 'terrified' its planned reopening will continue to blight their lives once again.

Residents are fearful that the mine’s Low Frequency Noise, vibrations, blasts and dust will begin spoiling their peace and quiet once again. 

One resident, who asked to be anonymous, fought back tears when she recalled what it was like living in Sparkwell when the mine was running last. 

“I found it really, really upsetting,” she said. “Literally everything in the house would rattle. 

“At night time, it was hard to sleep and dust in the air would fall down on our garden. How could they be allowed to be this disruptive? I do not want the mine to start up again.” 

Whilst the Environment Agency says it has given Tungsten West “a very clear steer” that lessons need to be learned from when Wolf Minerals Ltd operated the site, residents fear their lives will be turned upside down if and when Tungsten West reopens the controversial site. 

In the most recent correspondence from the Environment Agency, a letter dated January 27, area director for Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, Helen Dobby wrote: “Since Tungsten West Ltd (TWL) acquired the mine site at Hemerdon, our local industry regulation officers have been working very closely with our national noise experts to provide advice and guidance. “We have given TWL a very clear steer that lessons must be learnt from the previous operations and appropriate control measures must be used to protect the local community. “Please be assured that TWL will need to demonstrate and justify the appropriate measures they intend to use to operate the Mineral Processing Facility, while protecting the local community and environment. “We understand from TWL that there will be some significant changes to the process plant, which they believe will demonstrate best available techniques for controlling noise and infrasound. As yet, we have not seen the full details of this.”

Villagers fear Hemerdon tungsten mine reopening will affect their health, homes and lives https://t.co/XwFt3Iovm6 pic.twitter.com/UC7jWPoq31

— Plymouth Live (@Plymouth_Live) May 15, 2021

Carbon-negative aggregates

Whilst Aggregate Industries clearly couldn’t care that any minerals quarried from Straitgate Farm would have high embodied carbon – not least because of the addition of a 46-mile round trip required to process each as-dug load before any onward distribution – some companies are working towards carbon-negative aggregates, aggregates made from CO2. 

Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation has selected O.C.O Technology to be part of its Green Concrete Consortium programme focusing on carbon-negative concrete and aggregate production. 

Stephen Roscoe, O.C.O’s Technical Director, said: 

Using carbon dioxide to transform unwanted waste materials into new carbon negative products is a perfect example of the circular economy in action. It reduces the need for natural aggregates and above all, it enables significant volumes of CO2 to be taken out of the atmosphere – something we all need to work towards to improve the future sustainability of our planet.

O.C.O was apparently the first company in the world to successfully commercialise the Accelerated Carbonation Technology process whereby "carbon dioxide is permanently captured as stable carbonate minerals… (manufactured limestone)". The company produces more than 350,000 tonnes of carbon-negative aggregate each year from its operations in Suffolk, Avonmouth and Leeds.

Japanese giant Mitsubishi Corporation has hand-picked O.C.O Technology as one of only four global companies to deliver its goal of transforming CO2 into #CarbonNegative concrete and #aggregates.

Read the full article here: https://t.co/hgguerKizU

— Grundon (@GrundonRecycle) February 22, 2021

Walsh to supply London with secondary aggregate – a waste product from Cornwall

Walsh & Port of Tilbury announce big investment in expanded London #aggregates supply business https://t.co/k4R1f3oC1M#Tilbury #constructionmaterials #sustainable pic.twitter.com/8RTQ3GemgX

— Aggregates Business (@Agg_Business) January 27, 2021

Walsh will bring 400,000 tonnes of secondary aggregate into Tilbury by sea and river each year from china clay producer Imerys in Cornwall. This material – known as Cornish Granite – is a by-product of the china clay industry and is rated as one of the most sustainable aggregates available in the UK.

Joe Gifford, Managing Director of WALSH said: "...our new partnership with the Port of Tilbury means we can bring in Cornish Granite that would otherwise be discarded and turn it into high-quality products to support London’s development and regeneration."

We have posted about this company before, their plans to increase the use of secondary aggregates in the form of china clay waste – of which Devon and Cornwall have hundreds of millions of tonnes blighting the landscape – and their assurances that there was 'no need for any more new quarries':

Our message is clear... quarries should only be used as a last resort. Digging and filling holes in our countryside does not provide a sustainable future for Britain’s building requirements.

Human-made materials now outweigh Earth's entire biomass

This is not going to end well https://t.co/QXUomJrH0R

— Kailas Wild 🐨🌳 (@kailaswild) December 11, 2020

The dominant categories in the analysis were human-made mass in the form of buildings and infrastructure, composed of concrete, aggregates, bricks and asphalt.

It can’t go on like this. 

In other news, a symposium facilitated by CDE has examined trends and challenges in construction and demolition waste recycling. Here are two paragraphs from a longer article that can be found here: 

Focusing on the recycling sector, CDE’s Eunan Kelly, Head of RECO, was joined by a panel of construction, demolition and excavation waste pioneers to discuss challenges and opportunities for sustainable construction in the UK and Ireland. Commenting on the sharp rise in public awareness of sustainability issues, Scott Brewster, Managing Director at Brewster Bros. Ltd, said, “There’s never been a time in history when the general public have been more informed about the environmental crisis we face.” He referenced how self-discipline and external pressures are leading a shift in how companies in the construction industry operate, citing they have become “leaner and cleaner” for their adoption of recycled aggregates which is improving profit margins and reducing environmental impact. As well as public pressure, he believes political pressure, including ambitious zero waste and net-zero emissions targets, and fiscal pressures, such as landfill tax and the aggregates levy, will encourage more construction businesses to turn to high quality recycled sand and aggregate products. 

Viv Russell of Longcliffe Quarries and James Thorne from the Institute of Quarrying joined with CDE to discuss the hidden value in by-product stockpiles. Russell explained, “A lot of things have changed over the years. Certainly, overburden was something you would muck away… and potentially, in the life of a quarry, you would move around three or four times. “You can’t afford to transport this material anymore,” he added. Pressures and influences on the industry, such as the Aggregates Levy in 2002, meant that a solution to costly waste products had to be found. Russell continued, “Touching them [the waste products] once and turning them into a product is common sense. Now scalpings and crushed rock fines…once seen as a waste are now seen as a resource.” Commenting on the evolution in practice in the industry, Thorne said, “The drivers are changing and the industry is moving its focus to reflect that.”

Regarding the latter paragraph, those reading the extensive phasing and soil movement plans for Straitgate Farm will wonder if Aggregate Industries has seen the memo.

  

CDE symposium examined trends and challenges in the materials processing industry. #Quarry #Mining #Crushing #Screening #Plant #Equipment @cdeglobal https://t.co/j1zuKKx2qD

— Highways.Today (@HighwaysToday) December 1, 2020

Drakelands operator to begin selling 700,000 tonnes of stockpiled aggregates – with aim to “saturate” local market

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

‘Enormous supply of cheap aggregates discovered in Devon’, claims Tungsten West

A surprise and "lucky" aggregates discovery at the Drakelands tungsten and tin mine at Hemerdon near Plymouth will have "a huge advantage over local competitors", claims operator Tungsten West.

We’ve posted about Drakelands before. Since the discovery of a tungsten-tin deposit in 1867, the site has had a chequered history. Wolf Minerals was the latest company to attempt to profit from the deposit, pouring £200 million into the site before calling in the administrators in 2018.

Last year, Drakelands was purchased by Tungsten West Ltd. Operations are due to restart in 2021.

Of course, it’s easy to stand next to a hole in the ground and make grandiose predictions of untold mineral wealth; mining companies do it all the time – particularly when looking to raise funds from hopeful investors. Once upon a time, it was claimed there were 20 million tonnes of sand and gravel at Straitgate; now Aggregate Industries is struggling to make the case for less than 5% of that.

Grand claims are now being made about Drakelands, particularly about the huge supply of aggregates discovered. If those claims prove true, Aggregate Industries, and its business across the South West, will suffer.

Tungsten West takes market edge with aggregates find #tungsten #aggregates https://t.co/dRW07frolw via @ExtIndustries

— Extractive Industries (@ExtIndustries) September 11, 2020

Tungsten West has reassessed the Hemerdon site, and claims to have discovered hundreds of millions of tonnes of aggregates. The granite mined for the tungsten and tin "makes exceptionally high value aggregates." Classed as secondary aggregate – a by-product of working the metal deposits – this material would have "a huge advantage over local competitors" by avoiding the aggregates levy of £2 per tonne. Tungsten West’s executive chairman talks of a "fantastic opportunity" and claims:

The mine sits in an area of the UK which is desperately short of aggregates with very good prices.

We have the full suite, from 40 ml clean gravels all the way down to fine sands, which are produced naturally as part of the processing route.

Last month, according to Tungsten West, Devon County Council agreed to application PRE/4195/2020 to temporarily increase the amount of aggregates permitted to leave the site, from 150,000 tonnes to 1.4 million tonnes a year. Tungsten West hopes to make this permanent, and thereafter increase it further to 2 to 2.5 million tonnes a year, "once we’ve demonstrated we can sell that much aggregate into the local and wider markets."

Tungsten West hopes local markets could take "in the order of 0.5 million tonnes a year", and has apparently "signed letters of intent and are in the process of formalising full sales contracts for a number of large local housing projects where we would be the exclusive supplier of aggregates." The company claims the already-mined tailings from the Wolf Minerals operation contain 3 million tonnes of finely crushed granite which can be readily used for concrete and mortar.

In the longer term, Tungsten West is looking to sell 3.5 to 4 million tonnes of aggregates per year, which – with "at the gate prices of £12-14/tonne" – could produce "$50million of revenues." Drakelands is "less than a mile from rail", and, using Plymouth docks, aggregates could be shipped to London and Continental Europe. Tungsten West now expects 50% of revenue to come from tungsten, 5% to 10% from tin, and 40 to 50% from aggregates.

A new supply of levy-free aggregates of the magnitude described is bound to have an impact on the South West market, undoubtedly forcing current players to reassess the scale of their operations.