BC Business
After nearly 20 years, the last Cornish tin mine to shut down may be the first to reopen
Cornish mining is having a moment. BBC One’s Poldark TV series, based on Winston Graham’s novels about an 18th-century copper-mining family in Cornwall, is into its third season, while in the real world, things are looking up for at least one tin mine in the area.
The mining of copper and tin in Cornwall had thrived since the Bronze Age (bronze is an alloy of the two metals), until it eventually became unprofitable. The last mine to close was South Crofty, in 1998.
Now Strongbow Exploration Inc., a mineral exploration company headquartered in Vancouver, plans to reopen South Crofty and mine its high-grade tin. Strongbow acquired the rights to the South Crofty tin project in July 2016.