Devon mine is focus of global trade war for tungsten

Deep in the Devonshire countryside, an old metal mine has become the latest – and most unlikely – battlefront for the global trade war between East and West.

The Hemerdon Mine, an open-pit site near Plympton, has been quietly rusting away since the Second World War, notwithstanding some efforts in the 1980s to bring it back into use.

But now the rising price of the tungsten it holds, a metal currently under a Chinese stranglehold, means plans are under way to bring it back to life.

Hemerdon's deposit of tungsten, which is Swedish for "heavy stone", is the fourth largest in the world, according to the British Geological Survey.

Management at Aim-listed Wolf Minerals, the Australian team developing the mine, say that it should be able to meet 3.5pc of global demand. "We are going to be one of the biggest producers of tungsten in the world," says Humphrey Hale, managing director.

Wolf estimates it will cost about £120m to get the mine into production by 2014, and recently secured £55m of this in loans from a consortium of banks. Read More