Commissioning activities have started at the Barruecopardo tungsten project in Salamanca, Spain, marking a major project milestone, developer Ormonde reported on Wednesday, but cautioned that first production has been pushed out 2019.
The Aim-listed company said the turnkey crush and screen plant had started in August, and that the first trial of waste rock through the primary crusher had been successfully carried out.
The commissioning of the process plant would start in December, about three months later than the original schedule, resulting in first production of tungsten concentrates only being expected at the beginning of February.
“It is very pleasing to have achieved another major project milestone during the quarter, with the on-target commencement of commissioning of the crush and screen plant and the water treatment plant, taking the project into its mine commissioning phase. This major advancement accompanied progress on the construction of the process plant where most of the major equipment has been installed and structural works are well advanced,” said chairperson and interim MD Michael Donoghue.
Projected construction costs remain within budget at €53.6-million.
The initial nine-year openpit mine will produce 260 000 metric tonne units of tungsten trioxide at steady state.