Our family - The mine
Interest in the possibility of mining on Hemerdon Ball dates back to the mid 1800's. The hopes centred on tin and copper and arsenic. Tungsten was unknown until the late 19th century, and not discovered in Hemerdon until the early 20th. Tungsten has a number of uses - it's used as a metal in alloys, it hardens steel, and is used in items such as light bulbs, jewellery, and watches. The mineral currently has a high trading price in the markets.
The idea of great potential at the mine created great friction between the three estates of Newnham (Strode), Hemerdon (Woolcombe) and Goodamoor (Treby). While there is no record of the outcome of the heated dispute it is said that the relations between the families remained cool for some time!
Many short-lived attempts have occurred since the first world war to extract the tungsten within the mine, culminating in the explosive discovery in the 1970's that Hemerdon holds the greatest tungsten reserve in Western Europe it is believed it holds over 40 million tonnes of the ore. The collapse of the tungsten market shortly after this made certain that the mine was mothballed and it lies empty to this day.
However, last year it was revealed that Australian based Wolf Minerals Limited - intend to mine around 3,000 tonnes of tungsten a year at Hemerdon, over the next 15-19 years. It will be the only tungsten and tin mine in the country, and Wolf Minerals say it could meet the UK's entire needs for many years. The development of Hemerdon mine will result in the formation of an open pit about 850m long by 540m wide and 200m deep. Trials and testing are taking place at the moment, so we wait with baited breath.
(All information is courtesy of "The Book of Sparkwell" with Hemerdon and Lee Mill, A Parish Portrait” by Pam James, Halsgrove Publishing 2001 and the BBC website)
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