TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – The Sangdong tungsten project, which TSX-V-listed Woulfe Mining is developing in South Korea, will require considerable additional testwork to bring it to proper commercial and financial preparedness.
The company, which announced the appointment of three new board members on Wednesday, reported this week that it had identified a work programme for Sangdong, following a comprehensive review of the June 6, 2012, feasibility study prepared under Woulfe Mining’s previous management.
Woulfe’s largest shareholder, Dundee Corporation, had assisted in the review.
Woulfe on Monday said the new prescribed work programme included diamond drilling to better define the orebody and, in particular, those areas of the resource that could potentially be mined in the early years of the mine's life.
More work was also needed on the mine design, mining method selection, metallurgical process design, and de-risking other technical aspects of the project.
The work programme would cost about $6-million to complete, and would start as soon as the company could find cash for it. However, the company also needed to raise capital to fund its working capital deficit and 2014 administrative costs, requiring about $9-million in total.
Woulfe in May said it was facing a cash crunch following a company-wide investigation after the resignation of the former executive management team in February.
The board and the acting CEO Hubert Marleau initiated a comprehensive investigation into the company and its subsidiaries to ensure business continuity. The investigation had identified issues relating to liquidity and the ability of the company and its subsidiaries, including Sangdong Mining, to meet various payables beyond the next few months.
Woulfe on Wednesday announced that it had appointed Michael Skead, Michel Gaucher and Benjamin Yi to its board, and that John Icke had resigned from the board with immediate effect.