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Cantung life-of-mine extended beyond 2017 – North American Tungsten

Cantung life-of-mine extended beyond 2017 – North American Tungsten

Photo by Reuters

22nd September 2014

By: Creamer Media Reporter

  

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JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.co.za) – Exploration results at junior resource company North American Tungsten’s Cantung mine, in the Northwest Territories, indicate that estimates of mineral reserves have increased, extending the mine's life, the company's chairperson and CEO, Kurt Heikkila, announced last week.

"This is excellent news for the company to report to the public, its customers and employees. Over the past three years, [North American Tungsten] has extracted over 1.4-million tons of ore at Cantung, yet our probable reserve estimates over that period have increased from the 1.69-million tons reported in 2011 to our current estimate of 1.82-million tons.

"The updated reserves and resources support an extended mine life. We've identified sufficient reserves to support commercial operations at Cantung beyond the end of 2017 and our intention is to continue exploration and definition diamond drilling to add to the reserves and resources, and, ultimately, the mine's operating life," Heikkila explained.

He noted that the exploration results validated the significant, longer-term investment North American Tungsten had made in Cantung over the past several years and reaffirmed its confidence in the mine's future. Improvements generated by targeted investments included mill throughput averaging over 1 300 t/d compared with earlier daily averages of 1 100 t.

Prepared in accordance with F-1 requirements of National Instrument 43-101, the full report, upon which these estimates were based, would be filed on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval within 45 days.

"This 43-101 shows that Cantung will continue to be an important source of tungsten for the world for years to come," Heikkila concluded.

Meanwhile, the company stated that mineral resources, where insufficient work had been completed to date to demonstrate economic viability, were excluded in determining the mineral reserves. “Additional work may demonstrate economic viability for part of these mineral resources,” added North American Tungsten.

Processing was carried out by gravity and flotation circuits, with final products including a premium gravity concentrate, containing on average more than 65% tungsten trioxide and a flotation concentrate containing on average 35% tungsten trioxide.

North American Tungsten pointed out that the key risks to mine the probable reserves economically were ammonium paratungstate (APT) quotations, metallurgical recovery and ore grades over the remaining mine life.

When production was taken into account, the company noted that probable mineral reserves had increased since the previous reserve estimate of January 31, 2011. The increases were the result of the exploration of new zones and the inclusion of lower-grade tons rendered economical by higher APT prices and increased mill capacity.

Cantung is a fully permitted and operating mine, and the orebodies included in the mining reserves are situated close to the current mine workings and accesses.

Edited by Tracy Hancock
Creamer Media Contributing Editor

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