London Mining Network has criticised the UK Government’s backing for a ‘wartime mine to fuel a global arms race’, after a £71 million public investment in the Hemerdon tungsten and tin mine in Devon.
On 25 August, the National Wealth Fund announced an investment of £71 million, consisting of a £36 million equity investment alongside up to £35 million of lending. The investment gives the UK Government the right to negotiate for procuring up to 50% of Hemerdon’s annual production, if and when the mine is up and running.
Increased demand for tungsten is overwhelmingly driven by the arms and aerospace industries. Tungsten West, the company which owns the mine, has boasted to investors of the importance of tungsten in ‘bullet-proof vehicles, armoured tanks, radiation shields [and] hypersonic missiles’. Just 0.1% of current annual production, meanwhile, will be needed to meet renewable energy needs in 2040.
Hemerdon is a ‘wartime’ mine that first opened during the First World War, before opening again during the Second World War. It has since been closed, other than a brief period of production between 2015 and 2018. The US Government has banned the use of tungsten procured from China for military production from 1 January 2027, fuelling a global scramble for tungsten reserves located elsewhere. The US Government previously expressed interest in investing in the Hemerdon mine. For the UK Government, investing Hemerdon represents its ‘critical minerals strategy in action‘, with its aim to rapidly expand mining domestically.
Yet without strict waste management and proper safeguards, the Hemerdon mine has severe potential environmental impacts. The ore grade for tungsten at the mine – the ratio of tungsten compared to the waste rock needed to extract it – is 0.17%, meaning 600 parts waste are produced for each part of tungsten. Questions as to how and where this waste, and aggregate, will be stored have yet to be clearly answered. This will raise concerns for local communities who could be at risk from pollution if the immense amount of waste is poorly managed.
There has been strong local opposition to Tungsten West’s plans to remove aggregate over the site, with proposals to increase the number of lorry journeys in the area branded by a local councillor as ‘totally unacceptable’ and ‘bitterly disappointing’.
Jake Simms, Just Transition Coordinator at London Mining Network, said:
“It is outrageous that public funding is being poured into a wartime mine to fuel a global arms race. The Hemerdon tungsten mine will cause significant environmental harm, producing 90 million tonnes of waste rock across its 11 year life, with 600 tonnes of waste for every 1 ton of tungsten produced. This puts local communities at risk from pollution, and questions must be answered on where and how the waste will be stored.
Funnelling minerals to the arms industry does not make us safer. Instead of fuelling a race for critical minerals – at home and abroad – the Government must ensure strict social and environmental safeguards and prioritise resources for decarbonisation.”