W Resources (LON:WRES), the tungsten, tin and gold mining company with assets in Spain and Portugal, has today announced it has sold the first shipment of tungsten concentrate from the new La Parrilla concentrator plant, the proceeds of which were received in January.
Production built through December 2019, with the move to 24-hour operation confirmed on 18 December. This was partially offset by a number of planned and unplanned shutdowns during the month to adjust and fine-tune equipment, which would be expected at this phase of the process. As a result, production in Q4 2019 was 21.4 tonnes of tungsten concentrate and 7.9 tonnes of tin concentrate, which is planned to ramp-up substantially in Q1 2020.
W expects production to build substantially in Q1 2020 with a full three months of production (majority of production in Q4 2019 was in the month of December) and higher than expected tin production and revenue. Debottlenecking initiatives and completion of contractor rectification work, which are normal at this phase of the ramp-up, should also contribute to production increases.
Michael Masterman, Chairman of W Resources, commented: “We are pleased to have produced nearly 30 tonnes of tungsten and tin concentrate (combined) and sold and banked proceeds from our first tungsten shipment from the new concentrator plant. Highlights include reaching target product specifications early in ramp-up and a higher proportion (28%) of tin in the product mix relative to the 10% in the August 2017 Final Investment Decision (“FID”) report. Mining and grade control is broadly in line with 2017 FID with higher tin grades currently driving higher than expected tin production.”
