Celeste Copper In Deal To Buy Stake In South Crofty Tin

LONDON, Jun 01, 2011 (Dow Jones Commodities News via Comtex) -- Celeste Copper Corporation (CV) has entered into an agreement to buy up to a 100% stake in Cornish Minerals Limited, which indirectly owns the South Crofty tin mine in the U.K. county of Cornwall, south west England, it said in a recent statement.

The mine, near Redruth, was closed in 1998 and is currently owned by Baseresult Holdings Limited and Casserite LP, an investment vehicle acting for Galena Asset Management, a subsidiary of commodity trading firm Trafigura.

Celeste will initially provide exploration and other funding worth GBP4.67 million in exchange for a 25% stake, and then has the right to up this by another 25% or 35% through additional expenditure. Celeste would then have the right to buy the remaining 40% by the end of September 2013.

South Crofty was the last working tin mine in Europe and plans to reopen it would provide strong employment and regeneration opportunities to the local community. The deposit is a complex series of underground mines linked by old tunnels that have required the constant removal of water that has flooded in since their closure.