CALLINGTON Town Council has given its backing to a proposal for mining exploration drilling at Kelly Bray at a planning meeting on Tuesday.

The prior notification of the proposal to carry out a programme of exploration drilling on land at Redmoor went before the council’s planning committee earlier this week, which was approached as a consultee.

The committee agreed there was no objection to the application at this stage, subject to consultation with the landowners and Environmental Health being satisfied with the procedures.

The planning decision followed a public meeting held last week, where members of the public were invited to ask questions or raise concerns to the council and representatives of Cornwall Resources Ltd, the company behind the planned exploration drilling at Redmoor Mine.

Cornwall Resources Ltd was a company set up as a joint venture between New Age Exploration and Strategic Minerals for the Redmoor tin-tungsten mine project.

Twenty-three bore holes, of up to 500 metres in depth, have been planned for the mine over a two-phase drilling programme to identify resources, which will take place over the next six months.

Jeff Harrison, consultant for Cornwall Resources, said at the meeting: ‘We’re trying to establish what is below the ground. We have had several public meetings already and the key things people want to know is where we are drilling and how it will affect those that live locally.

‘A lot of mining has happened here in the past but most of it was from near the surface, down to depths of 200 metres. We’re going to be looking a lot further down of depths of up to 500 metres.’

He said the holes would be drilled mainly in paddocks and not in people’s gardens. All the landowners had already been contacted. He highlighted that the drilling would be undertaken by two small diamond drill rigs with sound suppression equip-ment, which are trailer mounted and towed by trucks or tractors. The drilling would take place in 12 hour shifts, seven days a week but he said they believed the sound would not be intrusive but a slight noise of a steady hum.

He added: ‘We want to reassure you it’s not going to be a major drilling campaign. They are not big machines — it is slow, wet-based drilling which helps to suppress noise and dust. We can’t be sure that what we’re looking for is there, it’s only by drilling that we can find out if there is anything there.

‘If the project looks interesting and looks like it may progress, we’ll have a lot of consultation and share everything with the community along the way. We’re happy to talk to you and share all our information.’

Questions were asked about how noise levels were going to be monitored, to which it was replied that Cornwall Council would give a noise level they are allowed to work to and will monitor it.

The topic of house insurance was also brought up as a concern, which Cllr Jeremy Gist, who owns an insurance firm, told the audience if they had any concerns, to get in touch with their insurance broker and let them know what was going on. He believed insurance firms would just note the drilling for now.

Someone asked if they could invest in more drilling machinery so the drilling could be reduced to six days a week instead of being seven days a week. Mr Harrison replied that they were trying to make sure there were not too many rigs and that they could be a distance apart to make sure they were quiet and not intrusive. This would be done so there was no need to give residents a day of respite as they hoped the drilling wouldn’t be too noticeable.

The distance of drilling to houses was raised and the company assured that they were not allowed to drill within 50 metres of any property.

Most concerns were raised about future mining, if the exploration drilling revealed what the company is looking for, but portreeve of the council Cllr Mark Smith said that was not what the meeting was about. He said they could not speculate as to what might happen in the future because the company may not find what they are looking for. He said they had to concentrate on how the exploration drilling would affect the community.

He said: ‘We need to discuss the impact of what is happening now, not in stage two. If they do find something positive then we will have lots more meetings every step of the way. I think it will be a real positive for the area. It will help to bring prosperity which will be a positive in an area that is already struggling.’

He was asked whether regular meetings with the company could be set up to inform residents of the progress and was agreed that Mr Harrison would attend every second full council meeting, starting in March, to give an update and respond to any questions or concerns.

Mr Harrison added: ‘We are happy to meet every eight weeks, go to council meetings, go to people’s homes — whatever. We want the communication to be open. If I feel we are in a position of having something to tell you, we will arrange a way of letting people know.’

The council has agreed to give a dedicated mining update page on its website and a mining information newsletter will be available to interested people who sign up to receive it.

The application will now go to Cornwall Council, which is due to make a decision towards the end of March.