A conference sharing best practice and new approaches to risk assessment in property conveyance and land development Friday 30th September 2016 9am – 2pm, at Chi An Bobel, Heartlands, Pool, Redruth, Cornwall To mark 25 years of Cornwall Consultants Ltd promoting awareness and understanding of mining related issues in the South West. 1 Programme Time Title Author From To 09.00 09.30 Registration Coffee & Networking 09.30 09.35 Welcome and Introduction Tony Bennett, 09.35 09.55 The Mining Legacy in the South West Cornish Chamber of Mines & Minerals Dr Keith Russ 09.55 10.10 A Virtual Tour Beneath our Feet Western United Mines Ltd Mining Subsidence Appraisal: Dan Berriman 10.10 10.40 Searching for the Future Cornwall Consultants Ltd Ground Instability: Chris Massie 10.40 11.00 Engineered Solutions to Stabilise and Secure Old Consulting Engineer Mine Workings 11.00 11.10 Q&A with Session 1 speakers 11.10 11.25 Coffee & Networking Camborne-Pool-Redruth Link Road: Emma Blakesley 11.25 11.45 A Case Study of Mining, Geotechnical and CORMAC Solutions Ltd Contaminated Land Issues The Mundic Problem: Rachel Garside, Petrolab Ltd and 11.45 12.05 Principles and New Practices Dan Berriman, Cornwall Consultants Ltd Chris Tofts 12.05 12.25 Minerals and Planning Stephens Scown LLP Dealing with Land Contamination in Cornwall: James Langley and Miles Randall 12.25 12.45 The Local Authority Perspective Cornwall Council 12.45 12.55 Q&A Session with Session 2 speakers 12.55 13.00 Prize giveaway 13.00 14.15 Lunch, networking and Engine House Tours 2 Abstracts 09:35 – 09:55 The Mining Legacy in the South West by Tony Bennett Cornwall today is a very different place than it was over 100 years ago. For much of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it was the most productive copper and tin mining region in the world, but nowadays it is difficult to appreciate the full scale of this industry. There were over 2,000 mines active in Cornwall and West Devon at various periods during the nineteenth century and during its heyday the industry employed over 40,000 people. Since the closure of the mines, the landscape of the region has been transformed by agricultural cultivation and housing and infrastructure development. It is easy to overlook the impact left by the legacy of thousands of abandoned shafts, hundreds of miles of underground workings and acres of despoiled ground. Nowadays, in our drive for increased development in this region it is important to be aware of the significance of this once prolific industry. 09:55 – 10:10 A Virtual Tour Beneath our Feet by Dr Keith Russ Over the past 25 years Keith has single-handedly digitised a vast collection of mine plans and records showing the layout of mine workings across the main mining districts in Cornwall and West Devon. He has created a 3- dimensional virtual underground fly-through which offers an interesting and unique perspective of the ground beneath many modern urbanised areas. A short video will show in amazing clarity, the extent of deep workings and shafts modelled to date in the Camborne/Redruth Mining District and the complexity and density of the various mines. It also contextualises the degree of mining at shallow levels, which was not usually surveyed and which presents the main problem at surface today. The models are based upon plans held either in private archives or in the County Records Office at Truro. 10:10 – 10:40 Mining Subsidence Appraisal: Searching for the Future by Dan Berriman Mining Subsidence Appraisal in the South West has become a well-established process over the last 25 years. Mining Searches and follow-up Mining Investigations are now standard services that are provided by several recognised locally-based experts. Cornwall leads the way in Mining Subsidence Appraisal with more mining searches completed for conveyance and development than anywhere else in the UK. However, this is changing. This very localised industry is undergoing more substantial development than ever before. Dan will demonstrate the advances that local mining search specialists are making to this process and discuss the improved outward facing elements of the industry that benefit clients. He will also outline the wider reaching changes that are on the horizon. 10:40 – 11:00 Ground Instability: Engineered Solutions to Stabilise and Secure Old Mine Workings by Chris Massie Risk assessments and cost-benefit analyses during design, and value engineering during construction, are beginning to play a role in determining the extent and type of remediation that is possible. As the complexities of specific project sites increase, it is natural to expect the complexities of investigations to increase, however the simple solutions are still the best. Stabilisation or securing of old mine workings in the South West has become an issue in recent decades due to deterioration of old mine workings, end-of-life of earlier securing works and the pressure on available land for construction of new developments. This presentation reviews some of the traditional options 3 available and the application of relatively new engineering techniques in the stabilisation and securing of the mining legacy. 11:25 – 11:45 Camborne-Pool-Redruth Link Road: A Case Study of Mining, Geotechnical and Contaminated Land Issues by Emma Blakesley The CPR link road has been a project over 10 years in the design and construction. The project has involved the input of CORMAC’s Engineering Services Limited (ESL) from an early assessment of the extensive risk from historic mining activity, initial desk studies, geotechnical, mining and contaminated land investigations that evolved with the various designs through to the remediation of mining features, geotechnical stabilisation of a tailings dam and geotechnical advice and investigation for the structures and earthworks along the 2.4 km length of this predominately new road. This presentation will focus on the investigation methods involved, the extent of the mining remediation works and the importance that good communication and local knowledge had in the design and construction process. 11:45 – 12:05 The Mundic Problem: Principles and New Practices by Rachel Garside and Dan Berriman The discovery of mundic degradation can be a significant stumbling block in the conveyance process and can even prevent a mortgage approval all together. We will provide an overview of the problem, a detailed look at the analytical process and discuss the recent changes to the RICS Guidance Notes and the implications for home owners. The presentation will illustrate what is being looked for at each stage of the Mundic Test in order to evaluate whether a specific property is considered vulnerable to concrete decay and detail the multiple routes a property can take in order to be considered mortgageable. 12:05 – 12:25 Minerals and Planning by Chris Tofts This presentation looks at the tools used to protect minerals development and how these can alert property purchasers of potentially incompatible development. 12:25 – 12:45 Dealing with Land Contamination in Cornwall: The Local Authority Perspective by James Langley and Miles Randall Land contamination, if not dealt with adequately, can pose a serious threat to the health of the environment and the people who inhabit it. The presentation describes how Cornwall Council identifies and deals with contaminated land in the region, the most common form of which is a result of the former mining industry. The presentation will consider the legislative options available to deal with land contamination and will discuss the key principles of the management of land contamination and its relationship to brownfield development in Cornwall. 4 Speakers Tony Bennett BSc CEng MIMMM ACSM Cornish Chamber of Mines & Minerals Tony is a Chartered Mining Engineer who, since graduating from Camborne School of Mines in 1980, has spent his professional career based in Cornwall. After graduating, Tony became Technical Engineer for the Hot Dry Rocks Geothermal Energy project near Falmouth, where he remained until 1991. He currently works for EGS Energy Ltd as Operations Director for the proposed deep geothermal power plant at The Eden Project. Tony also worked at Cornwall Consultants Ltd for 17 years undertaking risk assessments based on historic maps and plans and compiling a comprehensive record of historic Cornish mines. He is a Director of the Cornish Chamber of Mines & Minerals. Tony is enthusiastic about Cornish heritage and for the past 37 years has been actively involved with the restoration of Rosevale Mine near Zennor. He is also the author of a book on one of Cornwall’s richest tin mines, Wheal Vor. Dr Keith Russ PhD BEng(Hons) ACSM MCSM Western United Mines Limited Keith is the Technical Services Engineer at Western United Mines Ltd, who operate South Crofty Mine, where his role includes survey control and updating working plans and sections of the former South Crofty Mine. He is a twice graduate (Mining Engineering) and former lecturer of the Camborne School of Mines and a past president of the Cornish Institute of Engineers. Since 2001 he has worked for Baseresult Holdings and then Western United Mines Ltd as part of the team trying to restart deep mining in Cornwall. Keith has a keen interest in all things mining and especially Cornwall’s mining heritage. Dan Berriman BSc (Hons) Cornwall Consultants Limited Dan is the Managing Director of Cornwall Consultants Ltd. He graduated with a degree in Geology and Physical Geography from the University of Luton before gaining valuable geotechnical field experience in Ireland. He joined Cornwall Consultants Ltd in 1997 as a Geologist and since that time has been involved with all aspects of the business, from desk-top mining searches, trenching and drilling site investigations, contamination and geotechnical studies, through to commercial development.