W Resources Plc (LON:WRES), the tungsten, copper and gold mining company with assets in Spain and Portugal, has today provided an update on development progress at La Parrilla, its flagship tungsten-tin project in Spain and on progress at Régua, Tarouca (both tungsten) and São Martinho (gold) in Portugal.
At La Parrilla in South Western Spain, the jig and mill are on track for mechanical completion later this month. The majority of steel and equipment has now been installed with electrical and instrumentation installation underway (https://wresources.com/projects/la-parrilla/). Outside the main plant two additional bins will be delivered and installed in April. Commissioning is expected to commence in early April with first crusher ore feed into the plant in April.
The majority of the equipment for the new large-scale concentrator is now on site and after an initial delay in steel deliveries to prime contractor allmineral Aufbereitungstechnik GmbH & Co. KG “allmineral” of Germany, installation commenced this week.
With steel deliveries underway, W expects to be able to accelerate construction of the concentrator over the next two months.
The fully automated 350 tonnes per hour crushing circuit is fully commissioned and operational. It can be run with one operator and has run smoothly at full capacity.
Initial water supply systems and the full Aggreko LNG power plant are in place and operational. Iberdrola, the Spanish utility company, is on schedule to upgrade grid power supply to 1.5MW in Q2 2019. Other core non-plant infrastructure, including all buildings, is now complete.
Mine development is advanced. The fast track mine area, including the high-grade outcrops, has been cleared for initial mine operations and the ramp from the mine to the ROM pad nearing completion. Current mining operations are with the tailings contractor, and a full four-year mining contract has been tendered and will be formally awarded this quarter.
At Régua in Portugal, development work continues to progress well. Infill drilling of the mine entry portals is now complete and database completion is underway for a review of the resource. Road construction, mining contractor and contract crushing contract negotiation is advanced and is expected to be finalised in Q3 2019.
At the São Martinho gold deposit in Portugal, SRK Consulting (UK) Ltd is progressing well with the updated gold resource estimate, which is expected to be finalised in Q2 2019. W Resources has applied for a trial mine licence in order to commence initial mining and production and this will be progressed through the Portuguese regulatory programme.
At Tarouca, following the successful exploration extension drilling we have applied for a new exploration license (Tarouca-Mões) covering the studied sector and prospective ground to the south.
Michael Masterman, Chairman of W Resources, commented:
“It has been an intense first quarter at La Parrilla with plant and infrastructure construction completion and production ramp-up running at a fast pace. Completion and commissioning of the jig in April will give us the operational capability to expand tungsten and tin production as part of the second stage of plant ramp-up. It’s great to see concentrator steel deliveries and installation commence following an initial delay by contractor allmineral. We expect to hit critical mass installing the large concentrator in Q2 2019, which will be sequenced well with the production ramp-up programme.
“Gold, tungsten and tin projects in Portugal are also advancing quickly and we expect to be able to report updated Régua drilling results and development activity and SRK resource estimates for the São Martinho gold discovery in Q2 2019.”
