Almonty Industries (ASX:AII) has commenced processing plant operations at its Sangdong Mine in South Korea, marking the transition from development to revenue-generating production.
The company began feeding stockpiled run-of-mine ore through its newly commissioned processing plant during June to produce saleable tungsten concentrate.
Almonty exited the March quarter with approximately 120,000 tonnes of ore stockpiled at an average grade of 0.24% tungsten trioxide (WO3).
During the June quarter, the company mined an additional 19,700 tonnes at 0.35% WO3 while advancing 214.6m of underground development along the Main Vein.
Total stockpiled ore now sits at approximately 139,700 tonnes at a blended grade of approximately 0.25% WO3. The company says it is utilising lower-grade throughput during the initial ramp-up phase and anticipates higher grades as the process advances.
Almonty notes Sangdong’s ‘low-grade’ ore is approximately three times higher than that of its Panasqueira mine in Portugal.
At prevailing tungsten prices, the contained tungsten in the current stockpile represents approximately 2.6 months of phase one throughput feed with an illustrative gross in-process value of approximately US$68 million ($98.3 million).
“This is the moment our team has worked toward for years – the transition from building and commissioning a mine to actually processing ore into saleable tungsten concentrate,” CEO Lewis Black says.
“With a substantial and growing stockpile already in place — with an illustrative gross in-process value of approximately US$68 million — and the plant now ramping, we are positioned to convert ore into revenue at a time when tungsten prices have reached historic highs and Western governments are moving decisively to secure non-China supply.”
The company says the milestone brings it closer to realising a fully integrated tungsten value chain through its planned downstream tungsten oxide plant and secured long-term offtake arrangements.
Almonty Industries is a global tungsten producer with assets in South Korea, Portugal, Spain and the US, and has relocated its global corporate headquarters to Montana.
Write to JC Villarba at Mining.com.au
Images: Almonty Industries
