The UK's Environment Agency has pre-approved a permit for mineral processing operations at the Hemerdon tungsten project after successful tests.

Tungsten West, the company focused on restarting production at the Hemerdon tungsten and tin mine in Devon, UK, announced it has received a draft permit from the UK's Environment Agency for its Mineral Processing Facility at Hemerdon.

Tungsten West is conducting an internal audit of the draft permit to ensure compliance with all criteria for tungsten and tin concentrate production at its processing facility. Should the requirements be met, the document will then be finalised followed by a public consultation. The public consultation will serve as a platform where the Environmental Agency will clarify its intention to grant the permit. This will be the final step before receiving the 'green light' to commence mineral processing.

According to Neil Gawthorpe, Tungsten West CEO, the permit “represents a major step forward in our goal of bringing Hemerdon back into production by the end of 2025, providing an ethical and sustainable domestic supply of critical minerals.”. Additionally, Gawthorpe noted that the permit establishes a pathway for additional investments in the project and facilitates updates to the feasibility.

The Hemerdon Project has significant tungsten reserves estimated at 101.2Mt (JORC-compliant) which is the second largest reported by CRIRSCO standards for tungsten. Furthermore, according to Tungsten West’s latest feasibility study, the project is anticipated to achieve an annual production average of 2900t of WO3 in concentrate and 310t of tin in concentrate at full ramp-up. At this production level, in 2023, Project Blue estimates that Hemerdon’s tungsten output would represent 3% of global production and 16% of ex-Chinese production from mines. This positions the Hemerdon Project as a significant alternative source of tungsten supply for Western consumers looking to diversify away from Chinese supply.