14.06.07
Cutting rock to cutting edge
Businesses that were once part of one of Cornwall’s
traditional industries have reinvented themselves and are
now attracting global customers.
The businesses are based at Wheal Jane, at Baldhu, near Truro,
which once produced 40 tonnes of tin a week and employed about
500 people. Following the crash in tin prices the working
mines at Wheal Jane and South Crofty shut down, and by 1998
just six staff remained on the Wheal Jane site. But now buildings
have been refurbished, new businesses are moving in and demand
for the services on offer is coming from around the world.
Nine companies employing more than 100 staff are now based
at Wheal Jane. Three different laboratories offer analytical
and mineral processing services both locally and worldwide
and a huge programme of restoration is ongoing alongside this
successful story of economic development and regeneration.
Bernard Ballard, Director of the Wheal Jane Group which owns
and operates the site and has three businesses based there,
said: “Cornwall's international mining services
are making a strong contribution to this region’s knowledge
economy. The site has been revitalised and the companies based
here have built up a worldwide reputation for mining related
consultancy and services.”
All the companies at Wheal Jane have strong links with the
Combined Universities in Cornwall, via Camborne School of
Mines (part of the University of Exeter at the Tremough Campus,
Penryn), and more than 50 graduates are employed across the
site. Most of the Wheal Jane Group's 33 staff are either former
South Crofty or Wheal Jane employees or Camborne School of
Mines graduates.
Carleen Kelemen, Director of the Objective One Partnership,
added: “From ‘cutting rock’ to ‘cutting
edge’ the technologies deployed in these businesses
have evolved from the mining sciences which put Cornwall at
the forefront of the industrial age. And today these emerging
businesses use cutting edge technologies in environmental
services and dot com applications to add value to our knowledge
based economy.”
Jean Taylor, Business Development Officer at the University
of Exeter Cornwall Campus, said: “Over the past
year two businesses offering mining and minerals consultancy
and based at the Wheal Jane site have employed graduates from
Camborne School of Mines. SGS Mineral Services has employed
five new graduates from CSM and Wardell Armstrong International
has employed four. We are really pleased that local businesses
are able to offer such good jobs to graduates.”
Keith Atkinson, Cornwall Provost University of Exeter and
previously Chair of the Combined Universities in Cornwall
Executive Group, said: “As a former Head of the
Camborne School of Mines I am delighted in the way that the
Wheal Jane site has developed. For those of us that remember
it as an operating mine, it is great to see the mining disciplines
adapting to the changing global environment. I have always
believed that mining engineering and minerals processing education
in particular are excellent backgrounds for a diverse range
of careers and businesses. Many of those companies at Wheal
Jane have very close associations with the Camborne School
of Mines and from the viewpoint of our Cornwall Campus it
is wonderful to have on our doorstep modern, high technology
companies who are likely to employ our graduates.”
The Wheal Jane Group's new laboratory is based in the former
miners’ changing and shower rooms. When the mine shut
the lab survived on a small scale basis because there was
a need for a lab to test the water being pumped out of the
mine. Now business is growing at a rapid rate, partly because
of the mining boom in China and India. The laboratory has
been moved from the old concentrator building on the site
which is currently being demolished as part of the restoration
programme for the site.
Clifford Rice, Laboratory Manager, said: “The boom
has meant there is a shortage of labs worldwide and we have
been able to employ the skills we used for Wheal Jane and
South Crofty mines commercially. The laboratory is mainly
involved in mining related analysis work and consultancy,
but is also involved in environmental soil and water analysis.
We can analyse samples very fast and accurately and are dealing
with countries including Turkey, Russia, Nigeria, Iran and
Kazakhstan.”
Other companies based at Wheal Jane include Wardell Armstrong
(based in the former offices and old miners’ lamp room)
and SGS Lakefield. Both operate mineral processing laboratories
which compliment Wheal Jane Lab’s analytical specialisation.
For instance Wheal Jane and SGS have just been involved in
testing for gold in Kazakhstan for the Alhambra Resources
Ltd, a Canadian based gold exploration and production corporation
engaged in the exploration of and production from its 100%
owned Uzboy Project.
Crofty Consultancy, also part of the Wheal Jane Group, carries
out contamination and mining surveys for domestic and industrial
land and properties across Cornwall. The company has a massive
archive of more than 10,000 plans, on microfiche, paper and
cloth – many created during the mining boom of the 1800s.
Carnon Contracting have just moved into new offices in the
Wheal Jane Group's new £200,000 office extension and
carry out civil engineering and specialist mining related
contracting work with many of their methods adapted from mining
technology. A water treatment plant still exists on site,
run by the Environment Agency. This continues to treat the
millions of gallons of water pumped from the Wheal Jane shafts
daily.
Other companies on the Wheal Jane site include Seacore Ltd
the specialist off shore drilling company who operate heavy
maintenance and temporary storage of drilling equipment as
part of their worldwide operations, and the South Crofty Collection,
also part of the Wheal Jane Group, which smelts tin concentrate
from a stockpile set aside before the closure of South Crofty
to produce pure tin which is then crafted into jewellery and
gift items for sale via the internet and retail shops.
Holman Wilfley Ltd is also based on site in the former engineering
workshops manufacturing shaking tables for minerals and waste
recovery projects worldwide.
Mr Ballard concluded: "Completing the Wheal Jane
Group is Wheal Jane Ltd which operates the entire 150 acre
site, providing services to the water treatment plant and
tenants on the site and undertakes all the restoration work
to meet our planning obligations with the County and District
planning authorities.”
For further information please contact Clare Morgan, Media
Relations Manager for the Objective One Partnership, on 01872
223439/07973 813647 or email cmorgan@cornwall.gov.uk.
The Objective One Programme for Cornwall and the
Isles of Scilly has invested in the Combined Universities
in Cornwall (CUC) project, both Phase 1 and Phase 2, through
the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European
Social Fund (ESF). The University of Exeter is a partner of
the CUC.
Editor's notes:
Clare Morgan
Media Relations Manager
Objective One Partnership Office
Castle House
Pydar Street
Truro TR1 2UD
Mobile: 07973 813647
Telephone: 01872 223439
cmorgan@cornwall.gov.uk
 back
to top
|
