It lies to the north of the villages of Sparkwell and Hemerdon, and adjacent to the large china clay pits near Lee Moor.

[2][3][4] A new company, Tungsten West plc, commenced interim operations at the mine in 2023, after investing to alter the processing plant.

[6] The Hemerdon deposit is centered upon a sub vertical, NNE-SSW striking, 100+ m wide Early Permian granite dyke hosted by Devonian metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks.

The Hemerdon Ball granite is an outlying cupola intrusion surrounded by Devonian slates, known regionally as killas.

It is flanked by killas, formed by contact metamorphism, which also contains veins although wolframite and cassiterite is found as a lower percentage of the rock bulk.

[11] In 1916, due to war associated tungsten shortages, an exploration and development program was initiated, which outlined a tin-tungsten stockwork suitable for open-cast extraction.

[12] Several attempts were made to establish a higher and stable price for tungsten from the government, including an application supported by Winston Churchill for recognition of wolfram mining as a key industry.

[16] The government took over the mine from Hemerdon Wolfram Ltd. A resource of 2.5 million tonnes of 0.14% tungsten trioxide in addition to tin was outlined, and a new plant was hastily constructed.

[19] However, nothing came of this and following the Westwood Report in 1956, the government decided to seek a private partner to move the mine's development forwards.

In 1969 a planning application for open-cast working of tin, tungsten and china clay was submitted, but it was withdrawn before a decision could be made.

Further work commencing in 1970 by British Tungsten Ltd increased the resource to 5.6 million tonnes of ore.[20][21] The leases were transferred to Hemerdon Mining and Smelting Ltd in 1976.

They initiated a drilling programme shortly before they entered a joint venture to develop the project with international mining firm AMAX in 1977.

[24] At the end of the exploration programme in 1980, over 14,000 metres (46,000 ft) of diamond drilling had been undertaken, outlining a resource of 0.17% tungsten trioxide and 0.025% tin over 49.6 million tonnes.

[25] Bulk sampling of the deposit using an underground drift for ore, and a pilot HMS and Gravity plant for processing, was undertaken in 1980.

[27] The venture was joined by Billiton Minerals Ltd, providing further finance and expertise, and forming a consortium that planned to commence production in 1986.

[11] By then a collapse in the prices of both tin and tungsten had damaged the economic feasibility of making an investment in opening the mine.

Before AMAX was sold to Phelps Dodge, it gradually transferred Canada Tungsten into the ownership of Aur Resources.

[33] However, during a review of peripheral assets in 1999, it decided that with the depressed prices of tungsten, the Hemerdon prospect was not central to its future.

[38] On 5 December 2007, trading recommenced following the public announcement of acquiring the mineral leases for the Hemerdon Mine project.

[46] Wolf Minerals ceased trading operations on 10 October 2018, as the mine never achieved extraction or financial targets.

Tungsten West plc, which floated on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market on 21 October 2021,[50] took over the mine.

Two Sandvik hybrid rolls crushers perform the primary and secondary crushing duties at gaps of approximately 60 and 40 mm respectively.

A prep screen washes any remaining <0.5 mm material that inadvertently reported to the DMS feed into an effluent tank.

There are two identical DMS circuits consisting of three Multotec cyclones fed by VSD pump set at 180 kPa and a cut density close to 2.7 g/cm3, so as to separate out the majority of silicates whilst not losing any particles containing heavy minerals.

The DMS effluent is dewatered using a set of cyclones, with the underflow reporting to the fines storage tank feeding the gravity circuit.

The DMS concentrate is fed into a regrind ball mill which operates in closed circuit with a 450 micron Derrick sizing screen.

The sulphide concentrate (floats) is pumped to the thickener for disposal, and the underflow (roaster feed) is dewatered using a filter belt.

This kiln uses diesel as a reductant to generate carbon monoxide, which reacts with haematite and other iron oxides in the feed at approximately 700 °C, to create magnetite or maghemite whilst leaving other minerals largely unaffected.

Removal of wolframite and other paramagnetic minerals leaves a coarse and a fine non-magnetic stream rich in tin and silicates.