It's good to see that things are finally shaping up. I hope their strategy pays off.
Regarding future mining in the UK, I think the future is very rosy indeed.
The BRICS will see demand stays strong.
The strategies of the western governments is to inflate and devalue. This will make UK deposits more favourable.
Big deposits being mined out elsewhere.
How this is going to take shape will be very interesting. I gather a combination of status quo, health and safety and economies of scale mean people favour large and opencast methods. In the meantime, the environmental people wouldn't like use to go pumping out somewhere like Wheal Jane. Then I suppose you have various environmental pressure groups making a fuss.
So, from what I gather, we have WUM looking at mining/pumping out a whole new area rather than dewatering the old mine. Then you have Hemerdon opencast and Thingy Pit (St Columb) opencast. I suppose you've then got the potential of opencasting cligga plus the odd trial here and there.
What happens following that will be interesting. I predict that we'll see an equilibrium set up between the mining companies and the stop-them organisations and a few will get the go ahead. When Crofty has it's mill and further down the line, perhaps other people will start looking at opening smaller operations.
Prices will see this is inevitable and happens.
So often we hear "Oh, they'll never pump jane out again" or "The reserves there aren't good enough"... Keep waiting. Prices are going one way only.
What is exceedingly interesting is how Cornwall is full of partially finished holes. Sure, a load of them went poor, or were mined out but many others crashed in depressions, fell to bits with chaotic ownership and financial crises and there is stuff still down there. It also goes for coal.
I see westcountry mining as a huge re-emerging phenomena and one which will continue to gather pace and all kinds of different prospects emerge. Trounson had a pretty good go at listing the various places which were good ideas and in my opinion, there is plenty more work to be done.
It should be a totally different picture to the one before and with things being more globalised, we shall see some pretty different distributions and flows of wealth on the back of resources and energy.
I think the ball is well and truly rolling.
The yoghurt weavers will change their tunes when Nanny State can't pay for their big wages/department/dole and they'll be crying out for someone to mill St Agnes headland, or put Jane's water into the Fal.