Ananova:

Water from a flooded Cornish tin mine is expected to start overflowing during the next two months, the Environment Agency has warned.

But minimal environmental impact is expected from the overflow at the closed South Crofty pit, near Camborne, west Cornwall, said the agency.

It has been monitoring the rise in water levels and water quality since pumping stopped, following the closure of the mine in March, 1989.

The mine water was about 39m below a horizontal drainage passage into which the water would flow.

The overflow from the pit, which was Britain's last working tin mine, is expected to enter the Red River sometime between October and December, said the agency.

Agency spokesman Geoff Boyd said it expected a slight increase in iron levels in the river, but it was believed that it would be unnecessary to treat the water being discharged.

Moves are under way which could eventually lead to mining re-starting at the South Crofty pit.

The concentration of metals in the water at South Crofty was many times lower than at the Weal Jane mine, which overflowed into the river Fal in 1992, causing a major environment scare, said the agency.

Millions of gallons of water from the closed mine, containing a cocktail of toxic metals, turned the river water orange.