Cornish Metals Inc (AIM:CUSN, TSX-V:CUSN, OTC:SBWFF) said it has reached an agreement with Roskear Minerals LLP to lease certain mineral rights located immediately adjacent to the southern boundary of the company’s South Crofty Underground Permission area.
The 49-hectare lease area covers part of the historic Great Flat Lode and lies within the company's South Carn Brea Exploration Area.
Exploration targets in this area include the sections of the Great Flat Lode not previously mined, as well as the Wide Formation, a structure interpreted to exist parallel to and beneath the Great Flat Lode.
The initial prospecting lease period is for five years, with an option to extend for a further five years if required.
The agreement will enable Cornish Metals to explore and, if successful, mine within all of the lease area. The terms of the prospecting lease require Cornish Metals to pay an annual rent to Roskear Minerals, plus a tin price-based sliding scale net smelter return royalty on production of any minerals recovered from the leased area under a subsequent Mining Lease.
"This lease agreement with Roskear Minerals opens up an area we believe has significant exploration potential, covering a large section of the historic Great Flat Lode, and any other potential zones of tin mineralisation between the Great Flat Lode and South Crofty," said Richard Williams, chief executive of Cornish Metals in a statement.
Most of the mining on the Great Flat Lode occurred in the 18th and 19th centuries. Underground mining commenced primarily for copper, with several narrow, steeply dipping veins exploited. A significant tin-bearing lode lying at a relatively shallow angle beneath these copper veins was discovered during the 1860s.
The Great Flat Lode was subsequently developed into one of the most productive areas of tin production in Cornwall during the latter part of the 19th century, with workings extending down to a vertical depth of 600 metres from surface.