Cornish Metals Inc’s refurbishment and dewatering of the New Cook’s Kitchen shaft is progressing at the South Crofty tin mine project in Pool, Redruth, Cornwall.
PUMPS
Operations have reached the mid-shaft pump station, approximately 360 metres below surface.
The Canadian company has started to secure the work area and stabilise the underground chamber of the pump station, ahead of installation of new permanent pumps.
“Shaft refurbishment and mine dewatering will continue in parallel with this work, down to the current level of the submersible pumps at approximately 380 metres below surface, ” said Cornish Metals.
“Work on the pump station is expected to be completed during Q4 2025.
“The submersible pumps will then be lowered to the lower pump station level (approximately 730 metres below surface) and mine dewatering and shaft refurbishment will resume at that point.
“Mine dewatering and NCK shaft refurbishment to the lower pump station level are expected in mid-2026, as previously guided.”
New Cooks Kitchen is the mine’s main production and service shaft at 770m deep and 6.0m x 2.5m.
Other intact shafts comprise Roskear, 610m deep, 4.9m diameter; Taylors, 520m deep, 6.0m x 3.0m; Palmers, 500m deep, 2.5m x 1.8m; and Williams,915m deep, 5.8m diameter.
South Crofty has an underground mining licence until 2071, covering 1,490 hectares, which include 26 former producing mines.
Cornish Metals states that mineralisation occurs in “laterally extensive lode structures, with some over four kilometres long and extending to a vertical depth of at least 1,000 metres”.
Large-scale production at South Crofty originally started in the mid-1600s, followed by intermittent operations before the last closure in 1998.