Premier African Minerals PLC (LON:PREM) will focus on an underground re-start at the RHA tungsten mine following a study from consultant Bara.
The consultant offered two scenarios – one for an underground restart at 6,000 to 7,000 tonnes per month.
A combined underground and open pit mining to produce 40,000 tonnes per month was the other alternative, but Premier said it is not considering this option at present.
Re-starting the underground operation will cost US$1.06mln, said Bara, with a peak cash requirement of US$1.66mln in month four, after which the mine starts to generate cash.
The analysis was based on a net 65% of a tungsten price of US$300 per mtu.
The current spot price is US$275-290 per mtu.
Only fifteen months was modelled as the results of drilling underway will determine the future development plans said Premier.
George Roach, Premier's CEO, said: "This technical and economic assessment of RHA demonstrates a technically viable restart basis for the project."
Shallow drilling at RHA, meanwhile, has indicated multiple instances of wolframite at commercial grades plus visible copper mineralisation in the same ore bodies.