Drakelands Mine

Hemerdon Mine

The main open cast at Hemerdon Ball
Location
Hemerdon Mine Location in the county of Devon
Location	Drakelands, near Plympton
Country	United Kingdom
Coordinates	50°24′36″N 4°00′36″W / 50.410°N 4.010°W / 50.410; -4.010
Production
Products	Tungsten, and Tin
Type	Open-cast
History
Discovered	1867
Active	1918–9, 1941–4, and 2015–8
Owner
Company	Tungsten West plc
Website	tungstenwest.com
Year of acquisition	2019

Drakelands Mine, also known as Hemerdon Mine, Hemerdon Ball Mine or Hemerdon Bal Mine ^{[note 1][1]} is a tungsten and tin mine. It is located 11 km (7 miles) northeast of Plymouth, near Plympton, in Devon, England. It lies to the north of the villages of Sparkwell and Hemerdon, and adjacent to the large china clay pits near Lee Moor. The mine had been out of operation since 1944, except for the brief operation of a trial mine in the 1980s. Work started to re-open it in 2014, but it ceased activities in 2018. It hosts the fourth largest tin-tungsten deposit in the world.^[2][3][4]

A new company, Tungsten West plc, commenced interim operations at the mine in 2023, after investing to alter the processing plant.^[5] A ground up review lead to the recognition that the ore is not in fact Wolframite, but is in fact a related ore, Ferberite, and changes were needed to improve extraction efficiencies. In addition, a subsidiary will enhance the mine with aggregate sales as a by-product of mining.^[6]

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