Tungsten mine ready for full production, boss says

A mine said to have one of the "most significant" deposits in tungsten in the Western world is to go into full production after a cash injection, bosses say.

The government is investing £71m to restart Tungsten West's Hemerdon mine, near Plymouth, Devon.

Bosses said they hoped they would be at full production by the end of March 2027 in a project which would create 350 jobs and secure access to the mineral used in defence.

Boss Jeff Court said: "We started very, very quickly on the back of the announcement... The timing is prefect for us in terms of getting that extra boost for funding... We have done everything we can do to make the project much more robust [after going on hold in 2022]."

Tungsten is an extremely hard metal, used in the defence, aerospace, next-generation energy and electronics industries, with 80% currently produced by China.

The UK's National Wealth Fund said the multi-million investment established the government as a significant long-term partner in one of the UK's most strategically important mineral projects, with rights to negotiate and procure up to 50% of the tungsten produced.

Tungsten West took over the disused mine in 2019 but put plans to reopen on hold three years later, blaming rising costs and a low market price for the mineral at the time.

Court said the market was much stronger now and the investment had "come at the exact right time for the project".

He also said it was "very important to us as it shows an incredibly strong level of support, right up to Number 10 [Downing Street] in the UK government".

Plymouth Sutton and Devonport's Labour MP Luke Pollard told the BBC: "Tungsten is important in national defence as an armour-piercing metal... it's used in missile production and a whole array of defence applications."

Pollard, Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry, added: "It's because of that and because the world is getting more dangerous and critical minerals like tungsten are more valuable and in demand that the government has stepped in to make an investment in Tungsten West."

He said it would "allow the UK to be more resilient" in challenging times.

"If the world is to be more dangerous, and we know that it is, we, as a country, need to be able to secure our own supply of these minerals," he said.

He added: "When we have one [supply] right here in Devon, this investment will allow us to use that resource and keep our country safer, as well as creating jobs."

Minister for Reindustrialisation Blair McDougall said the move was "a huge vote of confidence in an industry which is obviously part of the West Country's heritage but also an essential part of our modern economy".

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