As the final major instalment of Redruth's Public Realm scheme a bronze mining sculpture has been erected at the top of Lower Fore Street.

The bronze sculpture of a Cornish miner stands two metres tall and was produced by artist David Annand lives in Fyfe, Scotland and has produced a wide range of Public Artwork throughout Britain.

The sculpture was commissioned by the Redruth Public Realm Working Party's Mining Art Group in response to comments received during the consultation process.

People in the town said they wanted artwork in the public realm scheme and that miners and mining in general was not represented in the proposals.

The Mining Art Group, made up of representatives from Redruth Town Council, REAP (Redruth Economic Arts Partnership), CPR Regeneration, Kerrier District Council, Cornwall Arts Centre Trust and Michael Tangye, a local historian and author, under the chairmanship of Kerrier District Council's portfolio holder for Regeneration, commissioned the sculpture as a tribute to Cornish miners to celebrate what they had achieved at the forefront of the technology of their time and their impact on the rest of the world.

David Annand was selected from over 70 artists who responded to an advert placed by Cornwall Arts Centre Trust, the project managers, for expressions of interest in August 2006.

A short list of five artists was selected to create further drawings and models which were exhibited in the Cornwall Centre in December 2006 for public consultation. The final decision to commission David was taken by the Mining Art Group with the addition of young art ambassadors from Redruth School.

Matt McTaggart , Cornwall county councils executive member for strategic planning and transport said: "Redruth's role in the history of Cornish mining is well documented and as the capital of the greatest of all Cornwall's mining areas, important for its marketing, financial, managerial and institutional roles it is very fitting that a mining statue should stand within the town to acknowledge the town's heritage.

"This statue is the crowning glory to the town's Public Realm works and everyone involved in the scheme is to be congratulated. I would like to thank CORMAC in particular for their hard work and excellent results.

"Redruth's recent accomplishment of a Gold Award, for its Town Centre Public Realm Improvements, by the British Council of Shopping Centres goes some way to show that all of the materials chosen, the hard work, and indeed patience by the traders and the community is beginning to be recognised and should now be built upon to achieve further successes in the future for the town."

Councillor Carolyn Rule, Kerrier District Council Economic Development and Community Regeneration Portfolio Holder said "The Public Realm scheme has already delivered several works of art, based on themes related to Murdoch, the Carn Brea giant and mineral seams but this impressive sculpture is a fitting tribute to the miners themselves who lived and worked in and around Redruth".

Nigel Tipple, Chief Executive of CPR Regeneration, said: "Thanks to more than £5 million of investment from English Partnerships and the South West RDA, Redruth and Camborne have benefitted from a wide range of public realm improvements, including public art, to boost the vitality of both town centres. This new sculpture pays tribute to the area's industrial heritage while welcoming modern day visitors to the centre of Redruth."

Michael Tangye, local historian, Old Cornwall Society and author said: "Many indigenous Redruth families will be pleased to see the statue of a traditional Cornish miner erected in Fore Street. It is a truly fitting tribute to their forebears who worked in local mines, which extended beneath the very streets on which they walk today. It was they who with incredible courage left Cornwall in their thousands, often to avoid starvation, to take their unsurpassed skills of hard rock mining to the rest of the world."