Shareholders give £1m boost to mineral firm’s ‘world-class’ Cornish mine project
Ambitious plans to investigate opening an economically viable tin and tungsten mine in Cornwall have taken another step forward after the company behind the project raised £1m from shareholders.
Mineral exploration and production company Strategic Minerals said the placing of new shares was oversubscribed with strong investor support for its plans to accelerate development of the Redmoor Tungsten-Tin-Copper project.
Tungsten, in particular, was essential in key industries including defence, it said, with recent global events illustrating the need for diversified supply chains.
The issue of 333m new ordinary shares, which were offered to certain investors at a price of 0.3p each, follows last week’s announcement by Strategic Minerals of Government funding to progress work on the project.
Strategic Minerals’ wholly owned subsidiary Cornwall Resources (CRL) finalised the grant of over £764,000 through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
The project, between the village of Kelly Bray and the town of Callington in south east Cornwall, is in the heart of the historic Cornish tin mining district.
The original Redmoor mine was among a group opened in the 18th century and continued operating until 1892 when they were forced to close due to low tin prices.
The proceeds of the share placing combined with the grant funding will enable new exploration activities, including borehole drilling, aimed at accelerating the development of project.
This will be the first new exploration drilling to be undertaken at Redmoor since 2018.
Charles Manners, chairman of Strategic Minerals, said: “We are delighted with the response from investors to the opportunity to accelerate development of a potentially world-class, high-grade, polymetallic tungsten project right here in the UK.
“The oversubscribed placing wholly supports the match grant funding from the Government announced last week, delivering Strategic Minerals’ shareholders over £1.5m of exploration budget over the next 12 months, culminating in the formulation of an investment-ready business case and delivery plan for moving Redmoor toward prefeasibility.
“Tungsten is essential in defence, electronics and manufacturing industries and recent global events have underscored the importance of diversification of supply.”
