PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Pilbara Metals has suspended the commissioning of its Tabba Tabba tantalite project, in Western Australia, to allow for an engineering assessment to be undertaken.

The company said on Thursday that during the commissioning process, which started in December, the operations team identified areas of the plant that required modification and rectification to allow the plant to run at optimal design levels.

These included the ball mill and the coarse recovery section of the plant.

Pilbara noted that while the repairs and modifications were not considered major, they had prevented the plant from achieving design throughput and a representative recovery rate during the commissioning phase.

As a result, Pilbara had suspended commissioning activities to allow an engineering assessment, with the assistance of independent consulting engineers, in order to identify the most timely and cost effective way to implement the required changes.

At this stage, the company was unable to provide a timeframe for the remedial works.

Executive director Neil Biddle said on Thursday that the company would work to resume commissioning at Tabba Tabba as soon as possible, while continuing to focus on advancing its Pilgangoora lithium tantalum project towards development.

The Tabba Tabba project was expected to produce about 365 000 lb of tantalum over a 19-month mine life.

The plant was designed, constructed, installed and, until now, operated by Pilbara’s former joint venture partner Valdrew Nominees, trading as Nagrom & Co.

Biddle said that Pilbara was moving to terminate its operating agreement with Nagrom & Co, and was also in discussions with this party over the cost of any modifications that would be required as a result of the current review. Pilbara was considering its available legal options to recover these costs.