The Labour MP for Camborne and Redruth raised the issue during business questions on Thursday, warning that ore mined in Cornwall would currently have to travel overseas for refining before some of it returned to the UK.
Business minister Blair McDougall agreed to discuss the proposals and said the Government was putting £50 million on the table for this type of development work.
Moon argued that progress towards reviving Cornish mining would deliver less value if processing and refining remained offshore. The policy question is therefore about the location of higher-value industrial activity as well as extraction.
The ministerial response does not allocate £50 million to a named Cornish scheme. It identifies a potential national funding route and a forthcoming discussion about how domestic refinement could fit it.
Any project would still require a business case, technical development and investment decisions. It would also need to demonstrate demand for processed material from British manufacturers.
The meeting nevertheless gives Moon and other Cornish MPs an opportunity to turn a general critical-minerals commitment into a specific proposal for retaining jobs, capability and value in the UK.
