Hemerdon Mine Plymouth

ABP hunter · Aug 29, 2008

This is a tungsten mine which closed in 1944 the mine has long since been derelict since then and is falling 2 pieces. in its day it was one of the biggest tungsten mines in the uk but as demand fell after the second world war it closed. Later research in the 1980s showed that it has the large deposits of tungsten and tin in Europe and enough to supply the hole of the UKs demand. u can see from the pics what sort of state the mine is in this is only a fraction of what the mine was and is due to be reopen in 2010. I presume they will knock what left down.

probaly not the best pics going but its my first time.

Neosea · Aug 29, 2008

Nice one for your first time! Thanks for the history and photo's.

tarboat · Aug 29, 2008

What an interesting looking place. Good first report and historical information.

Foxylady · Aug 29, 2008

Nice site with lots to see. I didn't realise that tunsten was a non-alloyed metal until I looked it up! Good find.

BigLoada · Aug 29, 2008

Nice. Good to see a Wolframite mine on here. I only know of about 3 others in the country, 2 in Cornwall and the classic Carrock mine in Cumbria.

Thanks for posting these, very interesting indeed.

Sabtr · Aug 29, 2008

Ooo now this is different.

I had never actually thought about where tungsten came from until I saw this!
This has made me think of some questions!
Was it a deep mine or a drift?
Were there any pieces of what they mined lying round?
Who is going to open the mine once again?

krela · Aug 29, 2008

Sausage said:
Ooo now this is different. I had never actually thought about where tungsten came from until I saw this!
This has made me think of some questions!
Was it a deep mine or a drift?
Were there any pieces of what they mined lying round?
Who is going to open the mine once again?

Boooo it's a boring open mine

Means there will be bits of wolframite around though.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/content/articles/2007/12/04/hemerdon_mine_history_feature.shtml

Sabtr · Aug 29, 2008

Thanks for that link krela.

I know that it's an opencast type site but at least mining is beginning to start up once again in this country.

PS I'm going down a mine tomorrow. Can't wait.

Foxylady · Aug 29, 2008

'The mine is thought to be one of the largest deposits of tin and tungsten in the western world. It is believed to hold 40 million tonnes of tungsten and tin ore....
...It will be the only tungsten and tin mine in the country...'

Amazing! :mrgreen:

kernowexpeditionary · Aug 30, 2008

did this one a while back, worth a quick look around!

d_emon1 · Oct 16, 2008

Hemerdon mine

An abandoned open-cast tungsten mine near Lee Moor quarry (partially shutdown), Headon (Cornwood) quarry and Shaugh quarry (due to close within 12 months), nr Plymouth in Devon - this locality is famed for its high quality scorodite (among the best in Europe) and cassiterite and world class china clay.

Wolf Minerals LLC (an Australian cmining company have acquired the rights to mine this deposit, and current plans are to reopen the site as a full-scale opencast metal mine for tungsten and tin, producing up to 3000 tonnes of tungsten metal per year.

The mine is currently being assessed and trial bore holes are being dug to map the deposits.

Scrub2000 · Oct 16, 2008

Ah nice one. A few of us visited earlier on in the year and it's nice to see its still there....as above It will be reopening soon since there is a lot left to mine there...according to the local sources.

Good report.

skittles · Oct 16, 2008

interesting

where about is this - you do not have to be specific

that clock looks to be not very old

Scotty · Oct 16, 2008

skittles said:
interesting

where about is this - you do not have to be specific

that clock looks to be not very old

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=...0774,-4.011083&spn=0.006413,0.019312&t=h&z=16

alot of the site is used by horse owners and 4x4 poeple.
it was the last time i went and that was when they was still doing the clean up operation and core drilling.

the best but of the site for me was all the controll pannels and a big shorting unit or what ever its called.
but all thats been removed now.
still a intresting site to walk round.

Hemerdon Mine Plymouth

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