Work to drain an historic tin mine in Cornwall as part of a major project to bring it back into production is taking longer than planned due to pump issues.
In an announcement to the stock market on Thursday (July 24), Cornish Metals, the Canadian-headquartered company looking to revive the South Crofty mine in Pool, said reduced pump availability and delays in the servicing of one of the pump motors was to blame.
Maintenance work has now finished and resumed near-full capacity of 25,000m3 per day earlier this month.
Cornish Metals also said the refurbishment of the New Cooks Kitchen shaft had been "held back" by the slow rate of dewatering, although increased advance rates are now back in-line with plans, it added.
Shaft refurbishment and mine drainage are expected to reach the mid-shaft pump station at approximately 360 metres below surface in August. Refurbishment of the pump station, including installation of permanent pumps, will start at that point, Cornish Metals said.
Excavation and earthworks for the processing plant are also expected to start in August.
South Crofty was closed in 1998 following more than 400 years of continuous production and was acquired by Cornish Metals in 2016. The high-grade underground tin mine has existing mine infrastructure including multiple shafts that can be used for future operations.
Don Turvey, chief executive and director of Cornish Metals, said: "Activities at South Crofty have ramped up meaningfully following the financing in Q1 2025 with works underway across the site on-surface and underground.
"With the work completed this year, newly appointed technical advisers and the strengthened senior management, operations and projects leadership, we are now better positioned to build and deliver a world-class project at South Crofty. We are fully engaged and focused on advancing and derisking the project towards a restart of tin production."
In June, Cornish Metals was awarded up to £4.19m in grant funding from the º£½ÇÊÓƵ Shared Prosperity Fund for its Bartles Foundry project at South Crofty, which is aimed at supporting the underground development phase of the scheme.
The funding announcement came a month after Princess Anne was shown around the site and unveiled a plaque to mark the re-opening of the New Cooks Kitchen shaft.
She also visited the water treatment plant and went underground into the mine via the mine shaft cage.
