IT COULD be three to four years before tests reveal whether re-opening the historic Redmoor Mine at Kelly Bray is viable and another three before it comes into operation, the Australian company which is looking into its potential, said this week.

New Age Exploration Ltd, which acquired an exploration licence and the right to develop and operate a mine at Redmoor in October last year, is carrying out analysis on the site's previous samples to verify drilling results taken in the 1970s and 1980s. 

The previous drilling suggests there could be an 'exploration target' of between six and eleven million tonnes of tin and tungsten mineralisation within the Redmoor project.

Redmoor, which was extensively mined until 1892 and re-opened partially for periods in the 1900s, is one of two sites in the UK being investigated by New Age Exploration, the other being a coal mine in Scotland, it's first coal mining project outside Columbia.

The company says it will be at least a year before it carries out any diamond drilling tests on mineralisation that extends down to 400 metres below the surface as part of the exploratory target, and emphasised that the project was at a very early stage.

Business development manager Jon Reynolds visited the UK last week and met Callington Portreeve Jeremy Gist and members of Kelly Bray Residents' Association.

He said later:?'We are no nearer to mining this site than six months ago.

'There will be zero impact to the community at this stage as we are just currently doing some desk-based technical work. Because of the nature of this work, the costs being spent are minimal.

'We have a technical consultant working for us part-time and a young geologist based in Cornwall. Most of the time and money is being spent in Scotland where we have a flagship coal mining project in Lochivar.

'The data that has been collated from exploration at Redmoor 40 years ago is enough encouragement for us to look at the site's potential, but there are many targets and stages to go through.

'It could be three or four years before we get to an environmental impact study and up to six years before we go into production if everything else progresses successfully.'

Mr Reynolds said he was aware of concerns in the community, especially with housing so close to the mine site deposit, and he wanted to reassure people that the company took its responsibilities to the community very seriously.

'From our point of view not being local makes no difference, we have the same responsibility to our communities whether they are in Australia, Scotland or Cornwall.

'I will be coming to the UK every couple of months and can be available to address communities. Both myself and our technical consultant Roger Craddock are available to answer questions and concerns.

'I also hope that through Jeremy and Susie Iannantuoni from the Kelly Bray Residents' Association we can keep a good line of communication with local residents.

'I understand people's worries but we are so early in the process it is hypothetical on hypothetical at the moment.

'If this site does ever re-open there will be no open pit, given the closeness of the community. It would be underground, deep enough so there would be no surface impact.

'Holes are drilled, the ore is taken out and then back-filled with concrete so there is no impact in the future.'

Mr Reynolds said that if a mine was ever developed at Redmoor by NAE or someone else, in ten, 20 or 30 years' time, the community had to be protected by an environmental impact assessment and the planning approvals process.

'That's not just about the water and wildlife but how both the mining and how we process the ore impacts on people and property,' he said.

There are no drawings of underground workings so the company is not sure of the size of area any potential mining operation would cover at the moment.

Its exploration licence covers an area of 23 sq km, stretching from South Hill Road to the edge of Kit Hill, and runs for up to 15 years. It also grants NAE an option to take a 25-year mining lease, extendable by a further 25 years.