LONDON, UK.- The Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape has been chosen as the UK's 2005 nomination for becoming a World Heritage Site Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell announced today.

Cornwall and West Devon supplied much of the western world's tin and copper for substantial periods over the last 4,000 years and for a time during the 18th and 19th century the area was the world's greatest producer of tin and copper. As such it contributed substantially to Britain's industrial revolution and influenced mining technology and industrialisation throughout the world.

Tessa Jowell said: "This unique industrial and cultural landscape survives as a tribute to one of the most rapid periods of economic, industrial and social development the UK has known. Its contribution to British industrialisation was matched by its influence on the development of mining and engineering culture across the rest of the UK and overseas. World Heritage Sites are usually associated with cultural landmarks like the Great Wall of China or outstanding natural landscapes like the Grand Canyon National Park. But industrial landscapes, such as the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape also have a vital role to play in helping to unlock, for current and future generations, the heritage values, knowledge and history upon which civilisations are based. I am delighted to submit this formal nomination."

Deborah Boden, World Heritage Site co-ordinator said: "Achievement of World Heritage Site status will bring international recognition of the heritage value of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape, and the wider social and cultural achievements of the people engaged in the industry. The distinctive and technologically advanced method of deep mining developed in the region was transported around the world and still endures, both in Cornwall and West Devon and in places as far away as Australia, South America and South Africa.

"World Heritage Site status will also be a positive contributor to sustainable tourism initiatives and a stimulus to regeneration projects that conserve and celebrate the region's unique characteristics.

"Our submission as the UK's nomination for 2005 brings much appreciated recognition of all the years of hard work supported by groups, organisations and individuals that have gone into developing the World Heritage Site bid. We are delighted the Secretary of State is submitting this nomination and look forward to the process of assessment as an opportunity to demonstrate to the UNESCO advisers the quality of the bid, and the breadth of support for it."

The nomination document for the Cornish Mining Industry, which formally outlines the case for its inscription as a World Heritage Site, was submitted to the World Heritage Centre in Paris on 24 January. This nomination, together with those from other countries submitted by UNESCO's deadline of 1 February 2005, will be assessed by expert advisers to the World Heritage Committee over the next 12 months. Final decisions will be made by the World Heritage Committee at its annual meeting in the summer of 2006.