Sep 6 2019
Almonty Industries Inc., a Canada-based company, has provided an update on operational development at its 100% owned mines located in South Korea, Spain, and Portugal.
Located in Portugal, the Panasqueira Mine reported that the second tailings dam has been concluded and is set for operation. The conclusion of the second tailings dam (phase one) will allow the Panasqueira Mine to process and preserve tailings for another six years at the speed of 800,000-ton mining per year. The construction of the new tailings dam entailed an expenditure of € 1,000,000 over three years.
The entire piping and pumping systems linking the new tailings dam and the processing plant have been deployed and have concluded a trial operation. It is expected that the initial pumping of tailings to the new tailings dam will commence before January 2020 when the residual capacity of the old tailings dam would have been completely consumed.
The design of the new tailings dam conforms to the safety and environmental regulations of the EU and Portugal. Apart from implementing rigorous safety standards in the design, the new tailings dam is engineered for the second-phase expansion for another four years by positioning a surrounding 10 m-height retaining wall.
An additional phase-3 expansion is now scheduled to boost the capacity by another 10 years. Hence, in total, two decades of extra capacity is expected following the conclusion of all three phases.
Located in Spain, the Los Santos Mine has attained close to 50% recovery rate of WO3 from its tailings retreatment owing to continuing trials and tests—a substantial enhancement from the 35%-40% recovery rate achieved in the first stage of tailings retreatment. This improved recovery rate was achieved by adjusting the processing equipment more appropriately for fine material such as tailings.
Almonty Industries continues to enhance and increase its knowledge in the field of tailings reprocessing and this further shows its dedication to investing in tungsten technologies, which are key to stay competitive.
On September 3rd, 2019, Almonty Industries’ Sangdong Mine located in South Korea entered into a Contract for Construction of Buildings and Architectural Work with a local contractor, Ilkang K-Span, which deals in architectural construction of the Milling & Flotation Building, Ore Shed, Office Building, and Cranes. A total of Korean Won 4,110 million (equivalent to US Dollars $3.4 million) is the price of the contract that is expected to be completed in early 2021.
With regards to project equipment, Metso, which supplies major equipment for the Sangdong processing plant, has concluded the locked cycle tests of the Sangdong ore in its U.S. laboratory, which has acted as a basis for completing the processing flow diagram for the Sangdong plant.
Metso’s comprehensive engineering work is currently ongoing. In addition, Almonty Korea Tungsten Corporation (AKT) has started the comprehensive engineering work on its backfill plant in association with a European paste fill specialist firm, UpMS.
Furthermore, during September 2019, following the request from KfW-IPEX Bank (the lending bank for the Sangdong Mine project), Almonty Industries changed a specific amount of its intercompany debt into equity of its 100% owned subsidiary—AKT. This eliminated any shareholder deficiency on the balance sheet of AKT.
We are pleased to report the meaningful development at each of the Almonty mines. The completion of the second tailings dam at Panasqueira will ensure the tailings to be generated in the next 10 years from this historic mine to find its place in this new tailings dam assuring the continued seamless operation of the mine which has more than 20 years of LOM under NI 41-101 resources.
Lewis Black, Chairman, President, and CEO, Almonty Industries Inc.
Black continued, “The new tailings dam will be instrumental to this premier mine which still produces the best quality wolframite concentrate, continuing its record-breaking journey at the steady pace of 700,000 to 750,000 tpa mining.”
“The substantially increased recovery ratio in the tailings retreatment at Los Santos is a remarkable achievement. Close to 50% recovery is unprecedented in the history of tailings retreatment in the Western tungsten space which will help the mine to sustain its competitive cost structure,” added Black.
“Upon the execution of this Building Contract, the Sangdong Mine can get into the process of obtaining clearance on the detailed architectural engineering works from the County government. Such clearance is expected to be granted by January 2020, ahead of the planned groundbreaking in spring 2020,” Black further stated.
The development with Metso and UpMS is also encouraging as they have proven that the metallurgical performance and environmental treatment would materialize in line with the plan ascertaining the competitiveness of the Sangdong operation.
Lewis Black, Chairman, President, and CEO, Almonty Industries Inc.
Source: https://almonty.com/