Hemerdon Mine

Hemerdon Mine, also known as Hemerdon Ball Mine, Hemerdon Bal Mine and (briefly) previously as Drakelands Mine 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 tungsten deposit in the world. A new company, Tungsten West plc acquired the site in 2019. A ground up review led to the recognition that the ore is not 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.The operation has re-entered production as of 2026, with its strategic importance to critical mineral supply security cited as a major factor in achieving £71 million funding from the National Wealth Fund. The mine was designated as a strategic project under the EU's critical mineral strategy in 2025. Tungsten prices have increased over 8x since 2024, with shortages linked to the wars in Iran and Ukraine and the Chinese export restrictions. The USA has now banned exports of tungsten scrap as a national defence measure. Over 80% of global production is controlled by North Korea, China and Russia.