On September 1, 2010 North American Tungsten Corporation Ltd. has increased the estimated minerals reserve at the Cantung Mine to 1.693 million tons from its previous estimate of 1.021 million tons given in July 2009. This will extend the life of the Cantung Mine by over four years at its present mill capacity.
The Cantung Mine will return to operations in October 2010 and will be a primary producer of tungsten concentrate from underground mining operations. The restart plan for the mine was announced on July 26, 2010 based on the recovery of the prices for tungsten in world markets. The mine has been closed since October 18, 2009 due to increased product inventory and declining tungsten prices.
An upgraded operational plan and a financing plan developed to support the re-start of operations at the CanTung mine have also been drafted.
The Cantung Mine is located in the Nahanni area of western Northwest Territories, Canada. It is approximately 300 km by road northeast of Watson Lake, Yukon, close to the Yukon border. The mine is a primary producer of tungsten concentrate from open pit and underground mines.