Drakelands Mine
Drakelands Mine, also known as Hemerdon Mine or Hemerdon Ball Mine, is a tungsten and tin mine. It is located 11 km (7 miles) northeast of Plymouth, near Plympton, in Devon, England. It lies to the north of the villages of Sparkwell and Hemerdon, and adjacent to the large china clay pits near Lee Moor. The mine had been out of operation since 1944, except for the brief operation of a trial mine in the 1980s. Work started to re-open it in 2014, but it ceased activities in 2018. It hosts the fourth largest tin-tungsten deposit in the world.
The main open cast at Hemerdon Ball | |
| Location | |
|---|---|
Hemerdon Mine Location in the county of Devon | |
| Location | Drakelands, near Plympton |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Coordinates | 50°24′36″N 4°00′36″W |
| Production | |
| Products | Tungsten, and Tin |
| Type | Open-cast |
| History | |
| Discovered | 1867 |
| Active | 1918–9, 1941–4, and 2015–8 |
| Owner | |
| Company | Tungsten West plc |
| Website | tungstenwest |
| Year of acquisition | 2019 |
A new company, Tungsten West plc, now plan to re-open the mine in 2022, after investing to alter the processing plant. A ground up review lead to the recognition that the ore is not in fact Wolframite, but is in fact a related ore, Ferberite, and changes were needed to improve extraction efficiencies. In addition, a subsidiary will enhance the mine with aggregate sales as a by-product of mining.