JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Tungsten/copper/gold exploration and development company W Resources is gearing up to start work on the first stage of the Régua tungsten mine, in Portugal, after clearing the final hurdle for development by buying 20.3 ha of land.

The purchase, for €300 000, covers the outcropping resource of the Régua deposit along with the trial mine facilities, including the portals and the underground stopes.

Under the Armamar municipality land use plan, the Régua project area is classified as a mining area and the Régua trial mine project has obtained all required approvals from the central Mines Department and Regional Authorities.

"If La Parrilla, financed this month, is the flag ship then Régua is the high-grade quiet achiever. Our Portugal team has secured all approvals and now the land access to allow Régua to proceed smoothly to first production,” commented W chairperson Michael Masterman.

The mine will be developed with two near horizontal adits bored directly from outcropping sections of the orebody. Run-of-mine feed grade for the first two years is estimated in the mine plan to average 0.43% - high by global standards and three times that at La Parrilla.

The ore will be trucked to a nearby crushing plant from a granite quarry then processed through to high-grade concentrate at a new modular concentrator to be built by W on the site of the crushing and waste disposal facility.

W estimates the trial mine start-up costs to amount to €2.5-million.

“We look forward to opening the first galleries at the mine later this year. Preparatory mine grade control drilling will commence in the second quarter of 2018," Masterman said.

The Régua mine has inferred plus indicated resources of 5.46-million tonnes at 0.28% WO₃ and is open at depth and in all directions. The mine is targeting production of 1 300 t/y, which will increase W's tungsten production profile to more than 3 800 t/y.