It's sometimes said the main reason the Roman Empire came to Britain was Cornish tin and silver. Crazy that 2000 years later it's still at the centre of huge geopolitical events.
Strabo, the Greek Geographer, states that there was a highly lucrative Phoenician trade with Britain for tin via the Cassiterides, whose location is unknown but may have been off the northwest coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The Phoenicians brought their alphabet to Europe, and Latin alphabet is derived from this.
We've got the same problems here in Canada. Vast mineral resources but we cannot seem to get any initiative going because of various government roadblocks. They are getting in their own way.
@@andrewm8703No it is being reserved for a later time when we are not being gorged out taxes. Why would you want the government to mine that if the money just goes to them? Is this a 'problem'?
The problem is always the same..Getting whichever lacklustre government that is hanging on to power at the time, to actually make a decision, and invest in the country it’s supposed to be governing.
TBF rather than simply subsidising these businesses maybe it would be best to take a share in them? Not the market economy way of course but rather than lining the pockets of rich investors.
Why don't these private companies raise their own funds for investment instead of expecting the government to pay for it? Any money from the government should be in return for a share in the business, including the power to limit dividends and salaries to senior management.
Hear hear. Our gutless government is nothing more than caretakers. Can drive a ship but have no care or clue of its destination as long as they can jump off with pockets filled with cash before it crashes
They might start, before the mine de-waters, by reprocessing those old tailings piles! Remember, tin was what the old Miners were looking for and so anything else was tossed aside. Now is the time to look again at what the old Miners thought of as waste.
The 'tailings' piles they showed were the waste from the china clay industry not tin mining. However they are considering the extraction of lithium which is found in these tailings.
I was thinking this. Although depending how long they've been there, significant portions of the lithium may have leached into the surround area, making extraction quite difficult and disruptive.
Along with the steam engine, the world owes Britain for all it has given. The industrial revolution, electricity, end of institutional slavery worldwide, and ultimately the Magna Carta with English Common Law, just to name a few.
I think many would, but the mining industry didn't disappear of it own doing. If the government does get involved, I'd start dialing those hopes back to something more acheivable.. like just simply not embarrassing the entire nation (achievable, but far from an easy job for our politicians)
"For the UK it's a test of the governments ability to come up with the money and the vision...." "We need a coherent plan by the UK government" "We need action" ^ This should be making us all nervous.
All the calls for government support don't give me much hope. When these mines were first mined, I bet there wasn't any government support at all... Private industry really needs to stand on its own feet without the support of politically motivated money and all the strings that come with it.
Then perhaps government should remove much of the red tape. I bet that back then it was, at best, sending letter to parliament, with something like "I want to open tin mine on land that is in my possession and thus I ask you for decree" and then they would send him given decree and operation would commence. Not to mention that mining back then was quite different and often it would be nothing more than drift mining of vein of given metal. Fairly inexpensive endeavour. Today mining in Europe, disregarding whether it is outside or inside fo the EU, is strained by plenty of environmental regulations, red tape and is much more expensive as mines are deeper and metals are extracted from crushed rocks in form of dust particle rather than from veins. For example opening of one of the largest lithium mines in Europe (in Ore mountains), that will most likely produce tin and other metals as well, will take several more years due to all red tape. Immense gold deposits in Slovakia are not mined due to all the red tape and it would be perhaps open pit mining, so it is little bit problematic. That is the main issue I would say, regulations are preventing mining operations from starting without loans and subsidies.
@@Litany_of_Fury Isn't there any way how to declare that all minerals belongs to the crown as is common in continental Europe? (Wit the small difference that the crown was replaced by state in republics)
Mining in ancient times only needed cheap, unskilled labour and basic tools. Modern mining requires very expensive machinery and infrastructure and highly skilled personal, not to mention regulations requiring sustainable processing of waste. Its very hard to start up major projects without government subsidies and mining companies will only invest in places where their start-up costs are subsidised by the government or in third world countries where wages and start up costs are way cheaper and regulations are less stringent.
Cornwall has a stunningly beautiful coastline but the interior is badly scarred by mining. Morwellham (actually in Devon) is in the Tamar Valley. When the copper and manganese mines were operating the whole area was defoliated by arsenic. It is now green and beautiful but it’s not a crop growing area.
Not as funny as the Greater London authority getting kicked out of their purpose-built city hall because they couldn’t afford the rent to the Saudi owners. They had only moved into that one because they’d already sold off the grand old hall too. PFI what a bargain
Geothermal is about the only renewable that full proof (even hydropower is dependent on the weather) I'd be surprised if NZ doesn't tap into geo thermal more with a declared nuclear policy
@@roman648 The Sun will turn into a Red Giant and destroy itself in billions of years, all of our energy ultimately comes from the Sun, so technically all energy is only renewable 'for now'. However, I think we won't be worrying about how renewable geothermal is in a few billion years, we'll either be extinct or multiplanetary by then. If we're still on Earth at that point, then the the renewability of life will be our bigger issue.
@roman648 actually all of the water is reinjected down too the sorce, that's definitely why we do this because of taking too much water was becoming a problem, because it's the steam only no the water, thats separated. At first it was definitely a problem, strangely enough originally it was only for production of heavy water for the British nuclear power and bomb. Go figure right.
@vinniechan sadly our government just signed up to Blackrock, for 2 billion dollars for ocean wind farms, now that's definitely a extremely worrying place, the lasted new Geothermal station starts very soon,
@@gregorymalchuk272According to a recent FT article, 80% of sewage overflows are caused by underinvestment and not Victorian era infrastructure as water companies and Tory politicians try to tell us. Less than 12 per cent of the sewage network in England and Wales was built in the 19th century
Check a report called 'Task 3 Occurrence of storm water overflows in the EU.' It breaks down sewers and storm drains in countries in Europe that have combined sewers and separate sewers.
Wow congratulations I hope it takes off to my friends and the UK the more is that you pole lithium and t i n from British soil is a wonderful thing especially for the people around there for Great Britain high-paying jobsglad to hear it
The biggest issue will be China increased subsidizing of Chinese mining or resource gathering around the world. They control the majority of the industry and continue adding funds to that true. Except they do not care about eco friendly mining and have the cheapest labor. If the west can make it a point to only source from western industries it could work. Also what about the processing? things are even worse there. I think if be band together we can fill western/allies needs without risking national security. We cannot allow the CCP to control rare earth minerals.
China labour isn't that cheap anymore. But they are becoming way advanced on processing technologies as well as full upstream/downstream chain integration. It's not hundreds of thousands workers with picks and shovels anymore.
Belgium is the only country in the list of top producers that has a more expensive labour than China Peru, Bolivia, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia all have cheaper labour. Although the differences aren't as big as they are in the manufacturing industry they still exist
Love the shot down the mine with a Jock presenter and a Taffy engineer/geologist. As a Cornishman I hope history does not repeat itself where the money leaves our county and the workers are left relatively poor.
Welsh and Scots were proud miners too. I come from a family of Coal Miners in West Lothian, Scotland. This is great news for Cornwall, and the economy.
@@armac8158 So many old mining communities all over the UK mine used to be coal miners in Lancashire. shows how these old industries where once widespread
Most of the money investing in re-opening the mine is going to be coming outside of Cornwall since Cornwall is not going to be able to invest in the equipment and other paraphanalia from its own resources. I am sure most of the miners will be living in Cornwall spending their wages there though, and the level of skill required in modern mining is going to mean they are very well paid.
Fully agree, beautiful region cornwall and devon is! would be quite funny to see an "its cornwall's tin" movement similar to scotland's "its scotland's oil"😅
Well said, the profits taken from mining areas are not reinvested in the area, if they are it’s just a token gesture, same with the mining areas in South Wales, apparently £4 trillion was taken out in profits, this does not include the profits made from the steel/tin/copper industries of the past, we have wind, water and geothermal energy in spades, we export more energy the we use here, but what’s reinvested, not a great deal, I live in one of the South Wales Valley’s, very similar to the Camborne/Redruth area
And I hope stupid parchocialism doesn't blind people to the fact that Britain's regions are co-dependent and nation states should support their poorer regions when they require it. Britain is a small enough island as it is and we don't need wee nationalists breaking it into even tinier fragments and tell their compatriots in less well off regions to fk themselves because they in a period of being less prosperous. Its not like Cornwall hasn't needed support from tax generated in wealthier regions in recent years. @@jaydowg1914
Sad that we need to be driven by external threats to do what we should be anyway, maximising the natural resources of the UK. Wish them all success . May this be the first in harnessing our natural resources for Briitain's economic recovery.
@@Firebreak420 This is why all other countries are meeting the fictious levels and now they are saying China produces more than anyone else. It's always China's fault nowadays, or Russia's. Diversion Tactics
"Always will" is obviously wrong since we live in a finite world. Now if we start off-world resource extraction or gain enough energy abundance to synthesize new materials that could be something.
Government subsidies are just the opening step in the re construction of globalisation as we know it Open trade that is based on fairness and trust When both of these disappear / Don't exist any longer the world is changing naturally more trade is consolidated inward and among country blocks who still support the same fundamental idea. That means two things for our economy A) inflation Things can be as cheap as before when we source them from more expensive places B) a revivement of some industries we've exported abroad decades ago And the domestic changes that come with it Higher salaries (for some !) Changes in areas that didn't have the same opportunities before this change
Stock for this mine is less than 10p by the way. I don't wanna be that guy but this thing is like the equivalent of being some of the first for Bitcoin kinda moment. Already bought 12k worth of the stuff for Cornish Metals.
Not exactly sure it’s any test of the government’s commitment towards Cornwall. Most governments use Cornwall as a summer holiday home destination and for generations left it to struggle in the off season.
so you talk of this indecisive thing they shout and campaign to get thousands of people move almost middle of nowhere, have and build a family and life and house and then at any whim(joy of green things) all mines and life can end overnight and all was for nothing... probably cant get much selling house either, so loans are left. Did people die when thatcher was pressuring mine workers, ie army was sent to disband riots? back in 70s and 80s when they were harsh.
why can't cornwall function economically without getting special treatment from the national govt? this sounds like typical rural whining, and it goes on all over the world.
@@perfectallycromulentCornwall's geography works against it. It's a peninsula that leads nowhere. Locating a business there will typically add additional transportation costs. Tourism brings in money but also comes with second home ownership being an issue, making it hard for the locals. Basically a high cost of living paired with low wages. It's worse than the north of England that always seems to be getting special treatment.
Recovering Lithium from solution is now a thousand times more profitable due to an Australian process that works, not in five years but in 50 minutes and costs similarly, without pollution.
The UK needs to team up with the US and Canada in mining investment to get this Cornish mines at full production. Once the lithium is mine, the west needs to build Lithium refining facilities instead of shipping the raw materials to China.
Sounds like some company buyouts are necessary to assemble a project of sufficient scale and bring it to the Mining mining market for capital investment
Is all that water permating from the ocean, or was that just condensation raining down on you in the mine? Also Alan, Cornish Lithium should get in touch with E3 Metals in Alberta Canada, we're doing the same thing, collecting Lithium from the brine in the Great Sedimentary Basin, the same places that we used to get oil is now getting us minerals.
Mineral rush!?! There has always been an need for minerals, our government closed most industries in Britain through the 70s and 80s until we are now a shadow of our former self.
Silly question, but just how did the people of that time A. Know what was in the mine and what it could do with its bounty. B. Just how did a primitive people mine?
Why should the UK government provide money to revive mining in Cornwall? If mineral exploitation is not commercially financially viable, then it should not happen. Leave it to the market.
Free marketism is why Britain is now almost entirely a service economy based in the south east of England and reliant on foreign suppliers for manufactured products and raw materials. This is a strategic liability that forces us to depend on hostile foreign powers like Russia, China and sketchy theocracies like the Middle East for oil. Fk the free market and lassaize faire capitalism. It is why Britain has been comprehensively de-industrialised and overdependent on foreign resources.
The Government cannot fail these companies and industries. They need and must be given all the help and support they can get from the Gov or the UK will be left behind again.
If the government was serious about a strategic resource they should nationalise any restart efforts. Why should Cornish Tin and their ilk get all that help now suddenly Tin et al are booming and are now potentially economically viable in Cornwall again. No, get investment on the back of returns given the mineral price predictions or appeal to the government for investment/nationalisation. I’m sick of privatising the profits and nationalising the losses.
AFAIK the first steam machines were built for tin mines in tin mines in Cornwall. This is literally the place where the industrial revolution started 200 years ago.
The 'free market' would abandon high-wage Britain and focus almost exclusively on mining raw materials in poor countries where labour and regulations are cheaper. If we want to be more self-suffient and less reliant on sketchy countries for our essential raw materials that supply our industries then we need government intervention. Free Marketism is why we are now a predominantly service economy and not a manufacturing one.
I cannot remember the name of the mine but it is right on the coast and goes out under the sea. But by and large dormant though fairly close to being ready. As a tourist I did a walk underground there in 17. The story was when prices go back up they will continue to mine it.
18 months to pump the water out of South Crofty! I did exploration drilling at the bottom of Wheel Jane mine, and the water pressure was so great it pushed the drill pipe back up the hole.
Fuel from Coal. Coal gasification, as part of an integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) coal-fired power station, is used to produce syngas, a mixture of carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H2) gas to fire gas turbines to produce electricity. Syngas can also be converted into transportation fuels, such as gasoline and diesel, through the Fischer-Tropsch process; alternatively, syngas can be converted into methanol, which can be blended into fuel directly or converted to gasoline via the methanol to gasoline process.[104] Gasification combined with Fischer-Tropsch technology was used by the Sasol chemical company of South Africa to make chemicals and motor vehicle fuels from coal.[105]
Why is there virtually no opposition to this form of mining yet theres massive opposition to the whitehaven coking coal mine? Better we mine whatever resources we have rather than relying on others.
Because coal is not 'carbon friendly' but Lithium mining is. There is no major party that is really in favour of coal mining, other than the Tories, whose support is lukewarm and weak at best, which is typical of the Tories who get pushed around and bullied by progressives with their own agendas at every turn because they are weak and pathetic.
@@TheThundertaker Coal energy can be clean but it requires lots of investment. Coal energy can be cleaner that renewables. The future is going to be natural gas , clean coal and renewable.
“3:56- no production at all in Europe…” you have the top 10 refined tin producers rank board on at the same time and it literally says Belgium at the bottom
List of countries by tin production in 2019 based on Mineral Commodity Summary 2020 1. China , 85,000 2. Indonesia , 80,000 3. Myanmar, 54,000 4. Peru (CPTPP), 18,500 5. Bolivia, 17,000 6. Brazil, 17,000 7. Congo , 10,000 8. Nigeria , 7,500 9. Australia (CPTPP), 7,000 10. Vietnam (CPTPP), 4,500
I believe mining for various products will be restarted or new mines for new products. There is permission given for a new coal mine in Cumbria and the Woodsmith Mine a deep potash and polyhalite mine in North Yorkshire, England.
The polyhalite mine will never get off the ground, there isn't enough market out there for the product which they want to produce. South Crofty and the coal mine in Cumbria are real projects though
@@AK-74K the polyhalite mine in North Yorkshire is well on the way to starting production, so how can you say it will never get off the ground. Polyhalite is a more environmentally substitute for potash and there is already a world market for it. You need to do your research better, before making comments.
It has to be commercially viable though. If its cheaper to extract in foreign countries and import then it won't get off the ground.@@alanhindmarch4483
7:30 300,000 tons of lithium carbonate, which really is just around 100,000 tons of lithium, at high cost compared to Thatcher Pass, Nevada 40,000,000 ton cheap open pit mine.
Using our own minerals makes more sense to me , we are not transporting stuff around the world on poluting ships . Maybe its time to move a lot of manufacturing back , but prices would be higher , no cheap labour .
Wouldn’t you rather, let other countries use up their natural resources deposits; and buy from them, before we start using our own? If we’ve got the money it’s not an issue. And we retain our own resources for use in a more critical time in the future.
@@roman648 I'd say that's what we did do with the slowdown of production at the end of last century. Now that prices are at all time highs due to demand from the energy transition, I'd call now that critical time. It's also important to get domestic industry off the ground before foreign capital gets too desperate so profits are reinvested here instead of repatriated abroad.
It's sometimes said the main reason the Roman Empire came to Britain was Cornish tin and silver. Crazy that 2000 years later it's still at the centre of huge geopolitical events.
Strabo, the Greek Geographer, states that there was a highly lucrative Phoenician trade with Britain for tin via the Cassiterides, whose location is unknown but may have been off the northwest coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The Phoenicians brought their alphabet to Europe, and Latin alphabet is derived from this.
...But it is Sn: not that precious and not that globally significant surely?
Que demands for cornish independence 😂.
@@brybish You are way behind that curve 👍
The Romans also wanted the Great Orme Copper mine in Wales but it was pretty much played out by the time they got it.
Expecting this incompetent government to act swiftly and effectively is the stumbling block here.
they need time to set up the companies that will make the profits
@@thatguy363 too difficult they only do that with industries reliant on the taxpayer
We've got the same problems here in Canada. Vast mineral resources but we cannot seem to get any initiative going because of various government roadblocks. They are getting in their own way.
@@chubeye1187 tax 😂 peasant war of words
@@andrewm8703No it is being reserved for a later time when we are not being gorged out taxes. Why would you want the government to mine that if the money just goes to them? Is this a 'problem'?
The problem is always the same..Getting whichever lacklustre government that is hanging on to power at the time, to actually make a decision, and invest in the country it’s supposed to be governing.
Don't let the corrupt tories get there hands on it as they will sell it off to a foreign goverment.
Couldn’t agree more. Recent government’s lack of political will and planning for the future has messed the UK up on many fronts
TBF rather than simply subsidising these businesses maybe it would be best to take a share in them? Not the market economy way of course but rather than lining the pockets of rich investors.
Why don't these private companies raise their own funds for investment instead of expecting the government to pay for it? Any money from the government should be in return for a share in the business, including the power to limit dividends and salaries to senior management.
Hear hear. Our gutless government is nothing more than caretakers. Can drive a ship but have no care or clue of its destination as long as they can jump off with pockets filled with cash before it crashes
They might start, before the mine de-waters, by reprocessing those old tailings piles! Remember, tin was what the old Miners were looking for and so anything else was tossed aside. Now is the time to look again at what the old Miners thought of as waste.
👍
Exactly what I was thinking.
The 'tailings' piles they showed were the waste from the china clay industry not tin mining. However they are considering the extraction of lithium which is found in these tailings.
I was thinking this. Although depending how long they've been there, significant portions of the lithium may have leached into the surround area, making extraction quite difficult and disruptive.
Modern minerals processing techniques would likely get tin out of those tailings.
At 4:00 you say “no production in Europe”, but a place in Belgium is at the bottom of the screen.
😅
Cornwall was where the very first steam engines were used in the mines to pump out water.
Along with the steam engine, the world owes Britain for all it has given. The industrial revolution, electricity, end of institutional slavery worldwide, and ultimately the Magna Carta with English Common Law, just to name a few.
@@aBRUSHforCONFUCIUSPenicillin and antibiotics, vaccines… all have saved hundreds of millions of lives
@@aBRUSHforCONFUCIUS"end of institutional slavery" thing.
Hmmm, doesn't it count if you enslave the local population in place after colonisation?
@@aBRUSHforCONFUCIUSactually mate it was the welsh
@@TheAwillz You realise Wales is part of Britain?
As an Australian with Cornish mining heritage, it’s interesting to see the potential for mining to recommence in Cornwall!
Lease will be given to some suspicious foreign companies likely.
@@Q_QQ_Q
Chinese be like 🙃
Cornish miners often formed a large number of miners in the US as well historically.
Coherent plan & UK Government? Well, that's an oxymoron!
..''A coherent plan by the UK Govt...'' Aha..
This makes me so happy. I’d love England to have industry again
I think many would, but the mining industry didn't disappear of it own doing. If the government does get involved, I'd start dialing those hopes back to something more acheivable.. like just simply not embarrassing the entire nation (achievable, but far from an easy job for our politicians)
Industry? .. Let me think….. Industry in England?…. Oh yes! I remember now!
"For the UK it's a test of the governments ability to come up with the money and the vision...."
"We need a coherent plan by the UK government"
"We need action"
^ This should be making us all nervous.
Government and ability ?.
They will sell the the mines to themselves for nothing then sell them to the next despot with a wedge of cash.
Really good documentary, couldn’t agree more it’s about time we started making stuff again 😊
All the calls for government support don't give me much hope. When these mines were first mined, I bet there wasn't any government support at all... Private industry really needs to stand on its own feet without the support of politically motivated money and all the strings that come with it.
Maybe natural resources should be nationalised for use in the UK.
Then perhaps government should remove much of the red tape. I bet that back then it was, at best, sending letter to parliament, with something like "I want to open tin mine on land that is in my possession and thus I ask you for decree" and then they would send him given decree and operation would commence. Not to mention that mining back then was quite different and often it would be nothing more than drift mining of vein of given metal. Fairly inexpensive endeavour.
Today mining in Europe, disregarding whether it is outside or inside fo the EU, is strained by plenty of environmental regulations, red tape and is much more expensive as mines are deeper and metals are extracted from crushed rocks in form of dust particle rather than from veins. For example opening of one of the largest lithium mines in Europe (in Ore mountains), that will most likely produce tin and other metals as well, will take several more years due to all red tape. Immense gold deposits in Slovakia are not mined due to all the red tape and it would be perhaps open pit mining, so it is little bit problematic.
That is the main issue I would say, regulations are preventing mining operations from starting without loans and subsidies.
@@Litany_of_Fury Isn't there any way how to declare that all minerals belongs to the crown as is common in continental Europe? (Wit the small difference that the crown was replaced by state in republics)
@@MrToradragon Ultimate landownership and resource ownership is with the State. The State gives out licenses to mine specific resources.
Mining in ancient times only needed cheap, unskilled labour and basic tools. Modern mining requires very expensive machinery and infrastructure and highly skilled personal, not to mention regulations requiring sustainable processing of waste. Its very hard to start up major projects without government subsidies and mining companies will only invest in places where their start-up costs are subsidised by the government or in third world countries where wages and start up costs are way cheaper and regulations are less stringent.
Cornwall has a stunningly beautiful coastline but the interior is badly scarred by mining. Morwellham (actually in Devon) is in the Tamar Valley. When the copper and manganese mines were operating the whole area was defoliated by arsenic. It is now green and beautiful but it’s not a crop growing area.
Jaguar being owned by Tata is the most hilariously ridiculous thing I can possibly imagine... but hey, that's thatcher-nomics for you
Well atleast we bought , from your dearest friends the Americans 😅😅....
What’s wrong with that..tiny bit racist perhaps?
all the UK automobile production companies went bankrupt except perhaps specialty companies like morgan.
@@ronblack7870 …and was rescued by gov’t, then sold off after getting back to profitability.
Not as funny as the Greater London authority getting kicked out of their purpose-built city hall because they couldn’t afford the rent to the Saudi owners. They had only moved into that one because they’d already sold off the grand old hall too. PFI what a bargain
Hope there are plenty of minerals in those mines to last many decades, even a hundred years
Here in New Zealand the geothermal power is 30% of our electricity, plus lithium and other minerals, 😊
Geothermal is about the only renewable that full proof (even hydropower is dependent on the weather)
I'd be surprised if NZ doesn't tap into geo thermal more with a declared nuclear policy
The Earths core will cool down eventually in billions of years, so it’s technically renewable for now.
@@roman648 The Sun will turn into a Red Giant and destroy itself in billions of years, all of our energy ultimately comes from the Sun, so technically all energy is only renewable 'for now'. However, I think we won't be worrying about how renewable geothermal is in a few billion years, we'll either be extinct or multiplanetary by then.
If we're still on Earth at that point, then the the renewability of life will be our bigger issue.
@roman648 actually all of the water is reinjected down too the sorce, that's definitely why we do this because of taking too much water was becoming a problem, because it's the steam only no the water, thats separated. At first it was definitely a problem, strangely enough originally it was only for production of heavy water for the British nuclear power and bomb. Go figure right.
@vinniechan sadly our government just signed up to Blackrock, for 2 billion dollars for ocean wind farms, now that's definitely a extremely worrying place, the lasted new Geothermal station starts very soon,
Strict environmental standards in the UK? lol. Our rivers are full of sewage.
go figure how bad the rivers are in countries with less environmental standards
That's because your legacy sewer system doesn't segregate sewage from rainwater.
@@ralph7349 which nearby country has lower standards?
@@gregorymalchuk272According to a recent FT article, 80% of sewage overflows are caused by underinvestment and not Victorian era infrastructure as water companies and Tory politicians try to tell us. Less than 12 per cent of the sewage network in England and Wales was built in the 19th century
Check a report called 'Task 3 Occurrence of storm water overflows in the EU.' It breaks down sewers and storm drains in countries in Europe that have combined sewers and separate sewers.
Wow congratulations I hope it takes off to my friends and the UK the more is that you pole lithium and t i n from British soil is a wonderful thing especially for the people around there for Great Britain high-paying jobsglad to hear it
The biggest issue will be China increased subsidizing of Chinese mining or resource gathering around the world. They control the majority of the industry and continue adding funds to that true. Except they do not care about eco friendly mining and have the cheapest labor. If the west can make it a point to only source from western industries it could work. Also what about the processing? things are even worse there. I think if be band together we can fill western/allies needs without risking national security. We cannot allow the CCP to control rare earth minerals.
China labour isn't that cheap anymore. But they are becoming way advanced on processing technologies as well as full upstream/downstream chain integration. It's not hundreds of thousands workers with picks and shovels anymore.
Belgium is the only country in the list of top producers that has a more expensive labour than China
Peru, Bolivia, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia all have cheaper labour.
Although the differences aren't as big as they are in the manufacturing industry they still exist
@@abdiganiadengood joke 😂 us refining rare earth tech is 1970's based.
@@abdiganiaden how far? The gap is less than 10 years tech and China has 6 month ahead in Ai tech a bit more for 5g. 😂
Love the shot down the mine with a Jock presenter and a Taffy engineer/geologist. As a Cornishman I hope history does not repeat itself where the money leaves our county and the workers are left relatively poor.
Isn't that a parochial point-of-view?
Welsh and Scots were proud miners too. I come from a family of Coal Miners in West Lothian, Scotland.
This is great news for Cornwall, and the economy.
@@armac8158 So many old mining communities all over the UK mine used to be coal miners in Lancashire. shows how these old industries where once widespread
@@SuperStandin used to be the length and breadth of Britain mate👍🏻🇬🇧
Most of the money investing in re-opening the mine is going to be coming outside of Cornwall since Cornwall is not going to be able to invest in the equipment and other paraphanalia from its own resources. I am sure most of the miners will be living in Cornwall spending their wages there though, and the level of skill required in modern mining is going to mean they are very well paid.
Hope a big chunk of the profits stay in the South West they’ve been done over since de-industrialisation.
Half of london was built on west country mine profits and will continue to be so.
Fully agree, beautiful region cornwall and devon is! would be quite funny to see an "its cornwall's tin" movement similar to scotland's "its scotland's oil"😅
Well said, the profits taken from mining areas are not reinvested in the area, if they are it’s just a token gesture, same with the mining areas in South Wales, apparently £4 trillion was taken out in profits, this does not include the profits made from the steel/tin/copper industries of the past, we have wind, water and geothermal energy in spades, we export more energy the we use here, but what’s reinvested, not a great deal, I live in one of the South Wales Valley’s, very similar to the Camborne/Redruth area
Those who invested the money into the mine restart will get the largest chunk of the profits, that's how capitalism works.
And I hope stupid parchocialism doesn't blind people to the fact that Britain's regions are co-dependent and nation states should support their poorer regions when they require it. Britain is a small enough island as it is and we don't need wee nationalists breaking it into even tinier fragments and tell their compatriots in less well off regions to fk themselves because they in a period of being less prosperous. Its not like Cornwall hasn't needed support from tax generated in wealthier regions in recent years. @@jaydowg1914
What consideration has been made for Radon gas to safe extraction and waste disposal.
I’d be very happy indeed to see “Made in England” on more things I buy.
Exciting stuff! Best wishes from Australia. Looks like you guys have some smart people on the job. I hope the UK government support this!
Only if it benefits them in some way.
Let's hope our resources are mined by the Brits and not sold of to some foreign company, as so many of our resources have by successive Governments !!
Wait until our Government starts selling off the mines to some private corporation like that Maggie Thatcher did
If they are smart those people are probably aussies.
Too corrupt. So corrupts that it's 3rd world level.
Sad that we need to be driven by external threats to do what we should be anyway, maximising the natural resources of the UK. Wish them all success . May this be the first in harnessing our natural resources for Briitain's economic recovery.
As an American who voted for Biden, you’re welcome. Consider this an apology for not helping you in the Falklands ;)
Hopefully South Crofty are extracting all the metals from that water. There's loads of Lithium and other minerals suspended in that water.
We have the resources to be self sufficient and always will, it’s about time we stopped relying on other countries that have us over a barrel‼️
All the processing is still done in China for the most part no matter where the minerals are mined.
@@Firebreak420 This is why all other countries are meeting the fictious levels and now they are saying China produces more than anyone else. It's always China's fault nowadays, or Russia's. Diversion Tactics
"Always will" is obviously wrong since we live in a finite world. Now if we start off-world resource extraction or gain enough energy abundance to synthesize new materials that could be something.
This sounds like a view point of the WEF, or is this a forecast from the Dr Who series.@@CausticLemons7
@@Firebreak420 the onshoring is real. I believe covid was a wakeup call to many to shorten the supply lines and work closer with partners.
There is copper too in Parys Mountain,Anglesey .
Thanks, Bloomberg.
I’m not confident in this industry because it seems to rely too much on government action, either from across the sea or via homegrown subsidies.
Government subsidies are just the opening step in the re construction of globalisation as we know it
Open trade that is based on fairness and trust
When both of these disappear /
Don't exist any longer the world is changing
naturally more trade is consolidated inward and among country blocks who still support the same fundamental idea.
That means two things for our economy
A) inflation
Things can be as cheap as before when we source them from more expensive places
B) a revivement of some industries we've exported abroad decades ago
And the domestic changes that come with it
Higher salaries (for some !)
Changes in areas that didn't have the same opportunities before this change
In the scale of things there is little there to put big money into it.I know.
Stock for this mine is less than 10p by the way. I don't wanna be that guy but this thing is like the equivalent of being some of the first for Bitcoin kinda moment. Already bought 12k worth of the stuff for Cornish Metals.
I would love to see UK towns revived with mines. Most of them where created in first place to mine
That was when there were resources to mine. Those resources have now either been exhausted or not worth the expense to mine them anymore.
Not exactly sure it’s any test of the government’s commitment towards Cornwall. Most governments use Cornwall as a summer holiday home destination and for generations left it to struggle in the off season.
so you talk of this indecisive thing they shout and campaign to get thousands of people move almost middle of nowhere, have and build a family and life and house and then at any whim(joy of green things) all mines and life can end overnight and all was for nothing... probably cant get much selling house either, so loans are left.
Did people die when thatcher was pressuring mine workers, ie army was sent to disband riots? back in 70s and 80s when they were harsh.
Doesnt matter there wont be any other choice
why can't cornwall function economically without getting special treatment from the national govt? this sounds like typical rural whining, and it goes on all over the world.
@@perfectallycromulentCornwall's geography works against it. It's a peninsula that leads nowhere. Locating a business there will typically add additional transportation costs. Tourism brings in money but also comes with second home ownership being an issue, making it hard for the locals. Basically a high cost of living paired with low wages. It's worse than the north of England that always seems to be getting special treatment.
@@perfectallycromulent
City people get more spent on them per head
Recovering Lithium from solution is now a thousand times more profitable due to an Australian process that works, not in five years but in 50 minutes and costs similarly, without pollution.
The process is still not proven commercially, it's just pilot scale. Australian lithium production does not come from brines, but from hard rock.
Went to Camborne School of mining back in the 90's.
The UK needs to team up with the US and Canada in mining investment to get this Cornish mines at full production. Once the lithium is mine, the west needs to build Lithium refining facilities instead of shipping the raw materials to China.
yea yea.... UK will never allow dirty industry to refine those raw materials. It is a dirty job which no western country is willing to allow
To process 1 tonne of lithium requires 2200 tonnes of fresh water, where do you propose they get it from?
@@rjones6219clouds.....
@@rjones6219 In England? It falls out of the sky quite often.
Your life will be so expensive you think they shipping to China because they love China? Funny
4:01 says no production in Europe or North America. But Belgium is 10th on the list. Has that since closed down
Definition of a mine is a hole in the ground with a Cornishman at the bottom.
There's going to be a potash mine outside of Whitby.
Well done UK
We need a Brunel for the modern era.
Sounds like some company buyouts are necessary to assemble a project of sufficient scale and bring it to the Mining mining market for capital investment
With no production of tin at all in Europe, and then your graphic shows Aurubis Beerse, Belgium at 8,200 tonnes.
Is all that water permating from the ocean, or was that just condensation raining down on you in the mine?
Also Alan, Cornish Lithium should get in touch with E3 Metals in Alberta Canada, we're doing the same thing, collecting Lithium from the brine in the Great Sedimentary Basin, the same places that we used to get oil is now getting us minerals.
It's before the water table, half the time they're under the ocean in these mines
Cornwall is very wet. And is on the ocean.
@4:00 "..with no production in Europe.."
Meanwhile Belgium is clearly listed at #10
Just amazing.
Mineral rush!?! There has always been an need for minerals, our government closed most industries in Britain through the 70s and 80s until we are now a shadow of our former self.
Tin has been mined in Cornwall for 4,000 years. There might still be a fair bit of tin in those waste heaps. Reprocessing can be profitable.
Silly question, but just how did the people of that time A. Know what was in the mine and what it could do with its bounty. B. Just how did a primitive people mine?
Those iconic buildinds are engine houses for pumps
oh cool first time i see a youtube video with multiple audio tracks. nice.
Why should the UK government provide money to revive mining in Cornwall? If mineral exploitation is not commercially financially viable, then it should not happen. Leave it to the market.
UK government just providing a very small piece. Vast majority is privately funded
Free marketism is why Britain is now almost entirely a service economy based in the south east of England and reliant on foreign suppliers for manufactured products and raw materials. This is a strategic liability that forces us to depend on hostile foreign powers like Russia, China and sketchy theocracies like the Middle East for oil. Fk the free market and lassaize faire capitalism. It is why Britain has been comprehensively de-industrialised and overdependent on foreign resources.
The Government cannot fail these companies and industries. They need and must be given all the help and support they can get from the Gov or the UK will be left behind again.
If the government was serious about a strategic resource they should nationalise any restart efforts. Why should Cornish Tin and their ilk get all that help now suddenly Tin et al are booming and are now potentially economically viable in Cornwall again.
No, get investment on the back of returns given the mineral price predictions or appeal to the government for investment/nationalisation. I’m sick of privatising the profits and nationalising the losses.
I worked for Nobel explosive company we used to send loads of small diameter gelignite to Cornwall mines.
Fantastic news 🎉🎉
AFAIK the first steam machines were built for tin mines in tin mines in Cornwall.
This is literally the place where the industrial revolution started 200 years ago.
What kinds of minerals are in the waste piles?
All the best!
There is Lithium in UK as well
Not going to be economic to extract
Its also the old gripe that the goverment needs to dump money at a problem that the market should cover.
The 'free market' would abandon high-wage Britain and focus almost exclusively on mining raw materials in poor countries where labour and regulations are cheaper. If we want to be more self-suffient and less reliant on sketchy countries for our essential raw materials that supply our industries then we need government intervention.
Free Marketism is why we are now a predominantly service economy and not a manufacturing one.
Excellent news!!
I cannot remember the name of the mine but it is right on the coast and goes out under the sea. But by and large dormant though fairly close to being ready. As a tourist I did a walk underground there in 17. The story was when prices go back up they will continue to mine it.
..how can an extractive industry be 'sustainable'?..
I wonder what the companies are going to do with the arsenic that is mined along with the tin?.
Dump it on some Black and Brown people.
@@1MrAngel1 No, they have to pay for it.
@@billedifier8584 Oh , they will ! You know they will .
18 months to pump the water out of South Crofty! I did exploration drilling at the bottom of Wheel Jane mine, and the water pressure was so great it pushed the drill pipe back up the hole.
Wheal Jane.
Devon & Cornwall is littered with Stannery (tin) towns, the southwest has the potential to be a massive producer of Tin
How much of these metals are in the tailings of these old mines. Has any one looked?
Fuel from Coal. Coal gasification, as part of an integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) coal-fired power station, is used to produce syngas, a mixture of carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H2) gas to fire gas turbines to produce electricity. Syngas can also be converted into transportation fuels, such as gasoline and diesel, through the Fischer-Tropsch process; alternatively, syngas can be converted into methanol, which can be blended into fuel directly or converted to gasoline via the methanol to gasoline process.[104] Gasification combined with Fischer-Tropsch technology was used by the Sasol chemical company of South Africa to make chemicals and motor vehicle fuels from coal.[105]
And were are they going to get the skilled miners to mine it answer me that ?
If Britain had a better government, what a power it would it be again? Right now, it's shit as. Coming from an Aussie, that's a compliment.
Why is there virtually no opposition to this form of mining yet theres massive opposition to the whitehaven coking coal mine? Better we mine whatever resources we have rather than relying on others.
Because coal is not 'carbon friendly' but Lithium mining is. There is no major party that is really in favour of coal mining, other than the Tories, whose support is lukewarm and weak at best, which is typical of the Tories who get pushed around and bullied by progressives with their own agendas at every turn because they are weak and pathetic.
@@TheThundertaker
Coal energy can be clean but it requires lots of investment. Coal energy can be cleaner that renewables. The future is going to be natural gas , clean coal and renewable.
Brilliant news for the country 🇬🇧⚒️
“3:56- no production at all in Europe…” you have the top 10 refined tin producers rank board on at the same time and it literally says Belgium at the bottom
Belgium is in Africa, or atleast it looks like thst.
Since Britain is named after tin you would have thought it was a no brainer. Lithium usually sits nearby as well.
Where did you get that from? I've heard a few origins of the word Britain, not one of them relates to tin.
@@wc8246 The name “Britain” comes from the Phoenician name “Baratanac”, meaning “Land of Tin”
4:27 I guess they will have to drive back on reverse in order to get out of there haha :D
List of countries by tin production in 2019 based on Mineral Commodity Summary 2020
1. China , 85,000
2. Indonesia , 80,000
3. Myanmar, 54,000
4. Peru (CPTPP), 18,500
5. Bolivia, 17,000
6. Brazil, 17,000
7. Congo , 10,000
8. Nigeria , 7,500
9. Australia (CPTPP), 7,000
10. Vietnam (CPTPP), 4,500
...and your point is?
@@nigelleyland166point is, let's get back on the charts
@@nigelleyland166 the point is is to prompt the question where will this Cornwall mine put UK on the chart ???
@@tweedy4sgthe U.K. has 10% of known world reserves
@@canzukcommonwealth7309who says?
Who owns the mine?
Does this quality as blessing ?😊
6:12 I think I see the flaw in this.
i was about to post, does that mean Morewellham Quay is re-opening, then remembered that was copper not tin :)
Cornish Pasties 2.0 yum yum 😋
What’s the water like. Is it sea water or clean. Does it have high minerals. Can we grow thing with it.?
Tin from Cornwall was traded with the Phoenesians in Spain during the bronze age.
What is with the pink sunglasses Tiger?
I believe mining for various products will be restarted or new mines for new products. There is permission given for a new coal mine in Cumbria and the Woodsmith Mine a deep potash and polyhalite mine in North Yorkshire, England.
The polyhalite mine will never get off the ground, there isn't enough market out there for the product which they want to produce. South Crofty and the coal mine in Cumbria are real projects though
@@AK-74K the polyhalite mine in North Yorkshire is well on the way to starting production, so how can you say it will never get off the ground. Polyhalite is a more environmentally substitute for potash and there is already a world market for it. You need to do your research better, before making comments.
It has to be commercially viable though. If its cheaper to extract in foreign countries and import then it won't get off the ground.@@alanhindmarch4483
7:30 300,000 tons of lithium carbonate, which really is just around 100,000 tons of lithium, at high cost compared to Thatcher Pass, Nevada 40,000,000 ton cheap open pit mine.
Those Nevada resources will only be used for US industry. Britain needs its own supply that can be supplemented by foreign marginal supply.
I'm skeptical about any "action" from the UK government. The red sea will be parted before we see any investment coming from them.
They will have no choice.
Alphamin Resources is the Player!!! 💪
amazing work by TATA....4 BILLIONE battery plant....
The re opening has been on the cards for decades
Using our own minerals makes more sense to me , we are not transporting stuff around the world on poluting ships . Maybe its time to move a lot of manufacturing back , but prices would be higher , no cheap labour .
Better tech = No cheap labour needed. Look at the way they're mining now, its not guys down pits anymore like in China.
Wouldn’t you rather, let other countries use up their natural resources deposits; and buy from them, before we start using our own? If we’ve got the money it’s not an issue. And we retain our own resources for use in a more critical time in the future.
@@roman648 I'd say that's what we did do with the slowdown of production at the end of last century. Now that prices are at all time highs due to demand from the energy transition, I'd call now that critical time. It's also important to get domestic industry off the ground before foreign capital gets too desperate so profits are reinvested here instead of repatriated abroad.
Shipping is 35 tines more economical and about 10 times less polluting.
@@aBRUSHforCONFUCIUS compared to what? And according to who?
how much are the miners prepared to pay by way of roylties to the government?
Would have been nice to see those rich mineral deposits in the stone he picked up
Is Belgium not in Europe then?
So the government should in est in the infrastructure and set a vision....... and what happens to the profits?
No production in Europe. When did Belgium stop being in Europe?
COAL- COAL - AND MORE COAL !!! THAT IS WHAT WE NEED NOW. The idea that coal is dangerous is LUDICROUS. Cheap plentiful ENERGY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
well you won't find any in Cornwall.
Go the UK, go Cornwall
I never understand how something can be for a cleaner energy when it uses so much dirty equipment to mine it.