Michael Masterman, Chairman of W Resources commented: “With a very firm focus on ramp-up at La Parrilla, H2 is looking very exciting as we finalise the last few areas of the plant in order to transition to the full ramp-up of this world class tungsten project.
Whilst slow progress in finalising the updated JORC estimate for São Martinho has been extremely frustrating for both the management of W Resources and investors alike, the potential size of the deposit is encouraging and we have firmly requested that SRK address the issues our Qualified Persons have raised and finalise the report.”
W Resources PLC (LON:WRES), the tungsten, tin and gold mining company today announced an update on its flagship project La Parrilla in Spain and further detail on São Martinho in Portugal.
La Parrilla
· La Parrilla Jig Plant commissioned to design throughput of 300 tph
· Jigged preconcentrate of over 3,500 tonnes has been processed through to concentrate in existing Concentrator Plant
· Production is expected to increase significantly in July to 20 tonnes of concentrate following the move to a 24 hour operation at the existing concentrator and the upgrade to higher grade ore feed now that initial commissioning is complete
· The new La Parrilla Concentrator advancing to primary construction completion in June, in line with guidance
At La Parrilla, the team continues to advance commissioning of the Jig and Mill Plant which is reaching design throughput. The Jig and Mill Plant has produced over 3,500 tonnes of pre-concentrate which has been progressively processed through the existing Concentrator Plant. In the start up phase we have intentionally commissioned the jig plant with low grade ore prioritizing medium and higher grade ore following achievement of throughput and recovery targets. We will move to higher grade feed next week. Production of concentrate restarted in June 2019 and is expected to rise significantly to 20 tonnes of concentrate in July, with the move to 24 hour production at the existing concentrator and the move to materially higher grade ore supply.
Construction completion of the large scale Concentrator Plant remains on track for the plant to be completed by the end of June and commissioned in July following installation of the motor control centre and other final electrical and instrumentation equipment.
São Martinho
At the São Martinho gold project in central Portugal the trial mine application submitted in September 2018 is progressing through the regulatory process.
SRK Consulting (UK) Ltd continues to evaluate the project with a view to finalising the increased resource estimate which the Company expects to be completed in July. In initial estimates, there is a large increase in the modelled volumes, but differences exist in geological opinion as to whether the deposit is flat lying as in the Golder Associates Pty Ltd and W Resources assessment or deeply dipping as in the current SRK interpretation. These differences are partly due to the combination of structural complexity and multistage mineralising events.
