Earthworks start at W’s Spain tungsten mine

The construction team of the La Parrilla mine, in Spain, has mobilised to site and earthworks have started for the T2 development phase of the project.

In a project update on Tuesday, Aim-listed W Resources reported that site preparation works were under way and that earthworks pads for the offices and key construction infrastructure were nearing completion.

The company stated that the crusher engineering was 75% finalised and that the award of the structural steel contract was expected to be completed early this month.

Equipment manufacturing from Metso Minerals Portugal was under way and nearing completion.

Allmineral, of Germany, was progressing engineering and manufacture of the jig and concentrator plants from Germany, and W said that these plants were on budget and on schedule.

“Overall, W has moved quickly into a position where by the end of March 2018 approximately 60% of the total project commitments have been placed in firm contracts or purchase orders, providing good momentum in just over a month from financing completion,” said chairperson Michael Masterman.

On February 16, W finalised a $35-million loan facility with BlackRock to fund the La Parrilla mine development.

Phase 1 of the La Parilla mine involves the T2 project, which will be a two-million-tonne-a-year run-of-mine operation producing 2 700 t/y of tungsten concentrate.

Phase 2 is the T3.5 project, which will expand operations to 3.5-million tonnes a year to produce 4 000 t/y of tungsten concentrate.

Last week, the company received a €5.3-million grant for the project from the Junta da Extremadura government for the mine.

Source: miningweekly