THE PROJECT
Background:
The Hemerdon Tungsten-Tin Mine, formerly known as Drakelands Mine or the Hemerdon Ball or Hemerdon Bal Mine, was an operating tungsten and tin mine between August 2015 and October 2018 under previous operators Wolf Minerals (UK) Ltd. (Wolf).
The mine is located 7 miles NE of Plymouth, near the village of Plympton, in Devon, England, and has been categorised as a world class deposit due to the scale of the deposit within a global context.
The mine site retains a partially developed open pit, a complete processing plant, an integrated mine waste facility, workshops, administration offices and all associated mine site infrastructure.
Geology:
The Hemerdon deposit is centered upon a sub vertical, NNE-SSW striking, 100+ m wide Early Permian granite dyke hosted by Devonian metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks.
Mineralisation is overwhelmingly associated with moderately to steeply NW-dipping greisen-bordered quartz-ferberite± cassiterite sheeted veins. The resource size and dyke host are, to date, unique in SW England.
Mineral Resource Estimate:
The Hemerdon Mineral Resource Estimate has been prepared by Mining Plus UK in accordance with the “Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves” (The JORC Code) 2012 Edition. The Mineral Resource (Measured, Indicated and Inferred) for the Hemerdon deposit is 323.9Mt at 0.12% WO₃and 0.03% Sn, reported at a cut-off grade of 0.065% WO₃ Eq (equivalent*) for the granite and 0.079% WO₃ Eq for the killas. In addition the Mineral Resource Estimate includes 0.9Mt at 0.21% WO₃ and 0.05% Sn in previously mined stockpiles at site and this material is classified within the Measured category.
Mineral Resource reporting has an effective date of 7th December 2020.
In addition Mining Plus have prepared an inferred mineral resource for the tailings from the former operation of 3.2Mt at 0.18% WO₃ and 0.02% Sn.
The summary of the combined Mineral Resource Estimate for the Hemerdon Project is shown in Table below and illustrates that Hemerdon is amongst the world’s largest CRIRSCO compliant tungsten resources.
*Whereby WO₃Eq = WO₃ + (Sn*0.424) based on economic and metallurgical parameters at the time of reporting.
FACT
HEMERDON IS THE OLDEST GRANITE IN SOUTH-WEST ENGLAND
Ore Reserve Estimate:
The Ore Reserve Estimate for the Hemerdon deposit has been prepared by Mining Plus UK in accordance with the “Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves” (The JORC Code) 2012 Edition. The Ore Reserve (Proved and Probable) for Hemerdon is 63.3Mt at 0.18% WO₃ and 0.03% Sn, reported above an Ore Reserve cut-off grade of 0.098% WO₃ Eq (equivalent*) for the Granite and 0.134% WO₃ Eq for the Killas. This Ore Reserve includes 0.9Mt of existing stockpiles remaining from the previous open pit mining operations (2015-2018) and it should be noted that the Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources reported above are inclusive of those Mineral Resources modified to produce Ore Reserves.
Ore Reserve reporting has an effective date of 1st March 2021.
The summary of the Ore Resource Estimate for the Hemerdon Project is shown in Table and illustrates that Hemerdon is amongst the world’s largest CRIRSCO compliant tungsten reserves.
*Whereby WO₃Eq = WO₃ + (Sn*0.534) for granite WO₃ + (Sn*0.171) for killas and based on economic and metallurgical parameters at the time of reporting.
