South Crofty has lost its planning appeal against Kerrier council with regard to its own plans to redevelop the surface of the site. But this week there appeared to be confusion over the outcome.

Nigel Tipple, chief executive of CPR Regeneration, the urban regeneration company for Camborne, Pool and Redruth, said: "We welcome this decision because it recognises that the housing-led proposal that was put forward for the South Crofty site would not have made a significant contribution to the regeneration of the area.

"We are currently consulting the community on sport, health and leisure-led proposals for Dudnance Lane, including the South Crofty site, and we look forward to developing the proposals with the community and would encourage Baseresult to engage in that process. We have made it clear that any scheme for the Crofty site and surrounding land would be carefully designed to ensure continued access to minerals reserves in the future and we remain committed to that."

But Kevin Williams, managing director, Baseresult, claimed the Secretary of State was in support of the mine and that the CPR's plans must now be regarded as "ill conceived".

While Baseresult Holdings had always believed that the plans put forward by Crofty Developments to re-develop 27 acres of South Crofty's surface area would not compromise the mine, "we are nevertheless delighted that the Secretary of State has made safeguarding the mine's minerals the single most important factor in her decision-making process," said Mr Williams.

"We have always said that we bought South Crofty with the sole intention of resuming full tin mining production but that, because we wanted to do as much as we could to assist with local regeneration plans, we were prepared to work closely with a developer we could trust in order to provide the housing, commercial and industrial units that the area requires. If that is not possible, we are more than happy to use the entire surface area for mining."

He added: "Any development that is likely to have a detrimental effect on mining operations cannot be countenanced."