W Resources PLC produced 68.1 tonnes of concentrate from its La Parrilla mine in Spain during July.
The concentrate comprised 58.3 tonnes of tungsten concentrate and 9.8 tonnes of tin concentrate, significant increases on the previous month’s production.
The increase came as W Resources regained access to the higher-grade ore in late June. The mine started feeding higher-grade ore to the plant from 6 July 2021, processing newly accessed and existing ore, resulting in an uplift in actual feed grade compared to budget.
It all added up to more than US$1mln in revenue generated in July.
In July, the plant operated on a standard five-day week, working two 12 hour shifts per day. From September the operation will transition from a 24 hour five day working week, to a 24 hour seven day working week, as recruitment and training of new staff progresses well.
"We are delighted to report continued progress in production at La Parrilla in July, following the significant activity at the mine over the past months,” said Michael Masterman, chairman of W Resources.
“Production for July is the highest to-date with tungsten concentrate production some 43% greater than June 2021. This is a trend we are seeing continue into August 2021 as we work towards reaching our target of 1,000 tonnes of concentrate in 2021.”
He added:
"Whilst we remain a low-cost producer, we are also benefitting from strong commodity pricing which continues to gain traction with tungsten tipping over US$300 per metric tonne unit and tin prices remaining very strong at over US$32,000 per tonne."
Previous annual production guidance was between 880 tonnes and 1,000 tonnes of concentrate. W Resources now expects annual production will be towards the upper end of this range for the twelve months ending 31 December 2021.