Thor Mining PLC (LON:THR) has revealed in the results of a scoping study for its Pilot Mountain project that the Desert Scheelite resource has an open pit mine life of 12 years.
The study forecast that the total Desert Scheelite production for open pit would be 7.5mln tonnes, with an annual throughput of 650,000 tonnes which would produce 1,000 tonnes of scheelite concentrate.
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AIM-listee Thor added that pre-tax profit expectations from initial open pit operations at Desert Scheelite ranged from US$125mln to US$317mln, which included improved recovery, reduced mining costs at greater throughput volumes, and the potential inclusion of Garnet mine production.
The Garnet deposit itself could also have the potential for economic mining and processing, Thor said that with the study indicating an initial open pit operation, transitioning to a small-scale underground operation could provide a supplementary ore feed averaging 120,000 tonnes per year.
On its base case, the company said the Desert Scheelite resource would have a project payback of 36 months, reducing to 18 if ongoing metallurgical test work improved recovery rates to 85% or above from the 72% recovery rate achieved in open circuit work previously done at the resource.
The Garnet resource would have a project payback of fewer than 18 months based on the findings.
The Desert Scheelite and Garnet resources have a combined resource of 11.73mln tonnes containing a total indicated and inferred resource of 32,720 tonnes of tungsten, a metal that currently has no primary production in the US despite its classification as a “Critical Mineral”.
With this in mind, Thor’s executive chairman Mick Billing said it was the company’s objective to “re-start the US’s commercial mining and tungsten concentrate production”.