W Resources upbeat on development progress at La Parrilla

Tungsten, tin and gold mining company W Resources updated the market on its flagship project La Parrilla in Spain on Wednesday, reporting that the mine was in the final stages of construction.

The AIM-traded firm said that, following delivery of the motor control centre, its team was completing the final electrical connections in the lead-up to full commissioning of the large-scale concentrator plant.

As it had previously reported, the mine, crusher plant and jig and mill plant were already in operation, and were geared up and ready to feed upgraded ore to the new concentrator plant.

Allmineral Aufbereitungstechnik of Germany was advancing towards final acceptance testing and signoff of the design capacity of the new 350 tonnes per hour jig and mill plant.

W Resources said Allmineral was upgrading the thickener underflow pump capacity, and had made a number of changes, which were a “usual part” of the commissioning and ramp-up process to enhance the plant’s operational capacity.

Ore fed to the jig and mill plant was being upgraded to higher grades, in line with expectations, and plant throughput had been tested at design capacity.

Upgraded pre-concentrate from the new jig and mill plant had been trucked to the existing La Parrilla Concentrator Plant, and processed through to final tungsten and tin concentrate.

Tungsten and tin concentrate stock had reached 19.8 tonnes - 16 tonnes of tungsten and 3.8 tonnes of tin - in July, which was slightly lower than earlier guidance of 20 tonnes concentrate, which the board said reflected the constraints on efficient pre-concentrate movement between plants and, in particular, the limitations of the old concentrator plant, which was designed for tailings and not ore feed.

It said that the operation of the old concentrator plant had provided “critical information” to enhance and fine-tune the performance of the new large-scale concentrator plant.

Those enhancements were being incorporated in real time in the new concentrator plant, an example of which was that the firm had purchased 72 spirals from the Wolf Minerals liquidator, and expanded the processing capacity of the spirals at La Parrilla at “very limited” cost.

The T2 remained within budget, including contingency.

W Resources said it had also signed an amendment agreement with BlackRock to capitalise the last two interest payments of the BlackRock term loan, which equated to $1.29m, which would be added to the final loan balance, further freeing up liquidity.

The next quarterly interest payment would fall due in November.

Additionally, the company updated the market on its operations in Portugal, saying that at Régua, development work was continuing to advance, with road access construction underway and mining set to start in the December quarter.

Spirals purchased from the Wolf Minerals liquidator and equipment from the existing La Parrilla concentrator plant would be used in the Régua plant.

Golder Associates had advised the firm that it expected to complete a JORC update of Régua's reserves and resource estimate, also in the December quarter.

As W Resources had previously reported, there had been a “substantial delay” in SRK Consulting completing the JORC resource estimate for São Martinho, with the final evaluation still being reviewed.

Once a satisfactory outcome had been agreed, the company said it would provide a further update.

“We are getting to the closing stages of construction at La Parrilla, with the mine, crusher and jig and mill plants commissioned and processing ore and the new large-scale concentrator plant set to start-up by September, following the completion of the important final commissioning stage,” said W Resources chairman Michael Masterman.

“Production from the old concentrator plant was below expectations in July, but importantly is greatly assisting with the enhancement of the new large-scale concentrator plant, which has been designed for full scale operation.”

Masterman said the company was “close” to finalising that process, with the priority being that the commissioning was completed thoroughly.

“The team has delivered a fantastic mine, at low-cost and we very much look forward to first production from the new concentrator plant in the September quarter.”