Construction of Wolf Minerals’ (ASX:WLF, LON:WLFE) Hemerdon tungsten and tin mine in Devon was 85% complete at the end of March with handover on schedule for the next quarter.
Russell Clark, managing director, said progress had been good made over the past three months, with ore from the mine set to be processed from July.
“The project remains on schedule and fully funded through to positive cash flow,“ he said.
Over 100,000 tonnes of ore has been stockpiled from the excavation of the Mine Waste Facility and will form the basis of the initial feed to the processing plant.
“The initial grade control drilling has confirmed our expectations with regards to tungsten and tin grades and tonnage and will provide critical ore body information for the next eighteen months."
"Recruitment of our employee team is progressing well, with key technical and commissioning personnel now in place," he added.
During the quarter Wolf was granted permission to trial 24 hour, seven day working at the plant, while a change in the pit design boosted reserves by 34%.
Clark said: “The seven day operation will, if permanently approved, provide us with over 27% more operating time, giving us the option to produce significant additional tonnage of tungsten and tin concentrates with no additional capital expenditure requirements.
"It also provides the opportunity to lower operating costs, pushing the operation further down the cost curve of tungsten production."
"It was very pleasing to see our major investor, RCF [Resource Capital Fund] , exercise just over half a million options at the end of the quarter, showing its continued support for the Project and for Wolf and their confidence in tungsten as a strategic speciality metal for the future."
Cash at the end of March was A$42.6mln (£22mln).
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