Beach Ices at Praa Sands
Ice meeting the sand at the base of the low cliff behind Praa Sands Beach, West Cornwall. 6th January 2009....
Icicles at Trewellard Bottoms
Water seeping through a wall is turned to icicles, ate Trewellard Bottoms, where Geevor Mine meets the sea....
Winter Sunset at Levant
A late afternoon scene, at Levant Mine, West Cornwall. 7th January 2009....
Winter at Levant
The old electricity generator building, at Levant Mine, West Cornwall, during the recent cold snap. 7th Jnauary 2009....
Not sure I understand this, Troll but assuming you mean what I think you mean, it would only be good if the jobs were taken up by a local company (eg. Goonvean). This cannot happen with the numbers involved so it is a disaster (700+ jobs to go in the St Austell area plus many at Lee Moor in Devon). One of my first jobs was with ECLP, so it's quite upsetting.
Just seen a news item that the jobs lost will be less than previously thought, but it's still bad:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/4792811.stm
Coady, I just seemed to be getting the feeling that you don't think a foreign company should take the mine over, the reality is there are no local companies with the finance required to do that.
Baseresult although fronted by a group of cornishmen is financed by the Bermuda Natural Stone Cladding Company, whoever they happen to be, but it would not be surprised if they in turn are owned by another larger company.
No, sorry, I don't mean that at all, and I didn't mean to suggest it. I also don't mean to infer that a 'non Cornish' business is bad.
What I'm muddling my way towards expressing is that, IF deep mine extraction of tin, copper (or any mineral) REALLY looks like being viable enough to make a decent load of money, then one or more Multinational firms will be down the mines like 'fitchers after rabbits'.
We never ran out of tin or copper, it was just cheaper to get it elsewhere, but most of those places are now out, or running out of the ore.
I will go so far as to suggest that its INEVITABLE that metal mining will return to Cornwall in the future, (maybe quite soon).
I try not to think about "Baseresult versus Pool regeneration Co." or whatever its called, as thats merely a distracting sideshow. Look at the broader issues, and do a bit of googling!
I otally agree with you when you say it is inevitable, it has long been in my mind a case of when and not if. The biggest concern with CPR is the manner in which they would like to see the land developed, which would ultimately hinder any future attempts to open the mine.
Don't worry I have long been doing a lot of googling (well yahoo anyway) and a lot of my own analysis of the world tin situation.
One poiunt of interest, the amount of rock being remove from the mine in the last couple of weeks has vastly increased, implying a large step up in the rate at which underground development is taking place, which should enable a commencement of pumping as soon as permission is granted (Hoping it is anyway)
Ha Ha Ha ... interesting news... Like I said earlier, we probably wouldn't know until the last minute if something was going to 'take off'. Hiding behind other companies, while negotiating with Governmant departments in confidence to ensure necessary permissions etc. would be the sort of thing I would expect to happen, cynical old type that I am.
I will contribute towards buying pasties for the first shift to go below ground and really start mining for real, and stand and cheer with a big grin on my face.
Building 'affordable' homes for unemployed people in an ex mining town ON TOP of a mine with millions of pounds worth of tin and copper in itis not EXACTLY my idea of the best sort of regeneration!
"Regeneration" is great, but it CAN become a 'cash cow' for the companies who do it, and as always, its possible to 'lose sight of the wood for the trees'.
The Kerrier district doesn't have the greatest record for this sort of thing. Look at Portreath, where they turned a potentially 'developable' port into a low cost housing estate with a water feature!
Just driven past the tuckingmill decline, nice to see more rock being broken and bought to surface (I have got a couple of pics of the scooptram bringing the rock to surface, unfortunately not sure how to post them here)
Lets just hope next weeks planning meeting goes the right way[/img]
Read the planners report this morning for next weeks meeting, they do not have the oppurtunity to refuse permission, all they can do is set new conditions for mining activites.
All proposed conditions appear on the face to be acceptable, so with a bit of luck depending on the length of time taken to build all water clarification plant, the pumps should be on soon.
WHAT????? That more than anything I've read about them before shows that CPRURC are totally out of step with Cornish thinking. The rest of my opinion is unpostable.
According to this it's 4 years till production still:
http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=144125&command=displayContent&sourceNode=202384&home=yes&more_nodeId1=144663&contentPK=15373480
I could have not blinked at 2 years from now but 4 seems excessive after 5 years of ownership.
