Cornish Metals has advanced construction at South Crofty in Cornwall, installing a service winder at the New Cook’s Kitchen shaft and receiving the equipment for a separate production winder. Process plant earthworks have moved into civil construction, while dewatering has lowered the water level more than 400 metres below the surface as the historic tin mine is prepared for renewed operation.
At New Cook’s Kitchen, the single-drum service winder is mounted on its constructed foundation. The double-drum production winder has arrived, its building is complete, and the production winder is ready for mechanical installation. Although the equipment will have distinct operating duties, both winders are part of a coordinated shaft infrastructure programme; arriving on site does not mean either system has been commissioned for mine operation.
Service winding enables the controlled movement of people, materials and equipment in the shaft, while production winding will provide a route for hoisting ore. The mechanical drives, wire ropes, braking systems, controls and lifting arrangements must operate within specified load and safety limits. Interfaces with shaft conveyances, loading points and underground infrastructure will be as important as the winders themselves when functional testing begins.
Bulk excavation for the surface processing facilities is now substantially complete, and civil works have started. Detailed engineering is being led by Ausenco, with Cornish Metals stepping up mechanical equipment procurement and expecting key engineering packages to go out to tender before year-end. The company expects most process plant mechanical orders to be placed by the end of 2026, though their delivery and installation will follow separate schedules.
Ore treatment requires a continuous route from underground handling to the separation and recovery of tin-bearing minerals. Process machinery must therefore be designed together with its foundations, feed and discharge arrangements, water circuits, power supply, instrumentation and maintenance access. Changes to one equipment package can affect the capacity or layout of the next. Resolving those interfaces during detailed engineering reduces the risk of expensive modifications after installation.
At Bartles Foundry, a new workshop, stores and office facility opened on 22 September to provide permanent support for maintenance and construction teams. The project cost approximately £6.8 million, including grant support of up to £4.2 million from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, administered locally through Cornwall Council. Unlike the winders and process plant, this building is already in use, providing a practical base for the growing engineering workload.
Solar panels have been fitted to the workshop, which is also designed to use geothermal heat recovered from pumped mine water. Recovering usable heat depends on the water temperature and the heat demand and distribution equipment connected to it; the presence of that provision alone does not quantify emissions savings. Cornish Metals has not reported measured energy performance from the new premises.
Water removal and shaft refurbishment govern the next phase underground. Dewatering through New Cook’s Kitchen has passed 400 metres below surface, while the company aims to reach the mine’s 400-level workings, approximately 730 metres below surface, in the first half of 2027. The 400-level name is a mine designation, not a statement that the workings lie 400 metres deep; confusing the two would overstate the access already achieved.
As the water level falls, crews can progressively access and inspect lower areas, but safe access still depends on pumping reliability, shaft repairs and the condition of the workings. Refurbishing the shaft and preparing loading and transport infrastructure are distinct operations from dewatering. They must converge before a sustained production route can link underground extraction with the planned surface processing facility.
Development at the 25-level has reached a cumulative 260 metres across the Conveyor Drive and Bunker Drive. The work advances the underground layout while giving trainee miners direct experience of development operations. Above ground, temporary offices, welfare facilities and laydown areas are supporting an increased contractor presence and the movement of construction materials and large equipment.
A completed two-hole, 2,330-metre drilling programme at Roskear West has intersected known tin lodes beyond the present Mineral Resource Estimate, alongside a tungsten-bearing zone and copper mineralisation. These results indicate possible extensions for further assessment, but the reported intervals are downhole measurements rather than established true widths. Neither the new tungsten nor copper findings forms part of the current resource or production guidance, which remains focused on tin.
South Crofty holds permits covering underground mining, a processing facility and associated site infrastructure. Cornish Metals’ published plan envisages production of roughly 4,700 tonnes of tin in concentrate annually in years two to six of operation, subject to execution of the redevelopment. The company’s intended mid-2028 start of production is likewise a target dependent on the remaining engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning work.
With the service winder mounted and production winding equipment awaiting installation, the shaft programme must next progress through mechanical completion, controls integration and testing. Deeper dewatering and process plant procurement will proceed on separate work fronts. Access to the lower workings and commissioning of the ore-handling route will determine how the construction programme aligns with the proposed production timetable.
