Premier African Minerals (LON:PREM) has started to process underground ore at its RHA tungsten mine in Zimbabwe.
George Roach, chairman and chief executive, said: "I am happy to report that our plant at RHA is now back in operation and processing ore from underground operations.
“Whilst additional fixes are still expected to the plant, the processing of higher grade ore is the first step towards our target of achieving profitable operations in the spring of 2016.”
Separately, financier Darwin converted seven loan notes with a value of £175,000 into equity.
Shares rose 20% to 0.751p.