Tungsten West PLC (AIM:TUN) said it signed an engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) contract for the Hemerdon tungsten and tin mine in Devon.
The company, which started trading on AIM last October, plans to restart production at the world-class mine.
In addition to signing the EPCM contract with Fairport Engineering Ltd, Tungsten West said some important long-lead equipment items have already been delivered and others had been ordered.
"We are extremely pleased with progress at site, particularly the onboarding of Fairport Engineering to undertake the detailed design and construction of the project,” said chief executive Max Denning. “We are looking forward to working with Fairport as we move towards restarting full production at Hemerdon, with a substantially improved processing route, through the introduction of XRT ore-sorting and upgraded processing equipment.”
It noted that commodity prices are significantly higher than those assumed in its bankable feasibility study.
"Fundamentals around our core commodities, tungsten and tin, are strong and support even better project economics compared to our feasibility study at Hemerdon. The project is, and will increasingly become, a highly strategic and important project to the UK and European supply chain of critical minerals," said Denning.
Currently the three major sources of tungsten concentrate are China, Vietnam and Russia.