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Heads need to be knocked together in the country's interest.
A solution to the low frequency noise must surely be found. Too much is at stake. My guess is the new crushers will sort that out.
Per Chairman's statement...................
Some of the key highlights from the 2022 FS update were:
· A post-tax Net Present Value ("NPV")5% of £297 million (base case) with an Internal Rate of Return ("IRR") of 25%
· An Upside case post-tax NPV(5%) of £415 million with an IRR of 32%
· Life of Mine ("LOM") of 27 years and an annual average steady-state mining rate of 3.5 million tonnes ("Mt") per annum
As outlined in the Company's announcement of 19 December 2022, we were also able to report an update to the 2021 Hemerdon deposit Mineral Resource Estimate ("MRE") due to changes in costs and processing assumptions, affecting the breakeven cut-off grade. The Group reported a 60% increase in ore tonnage and 10% increase in contained metal from previous 2021 Ore, taking the Hemerdon Ore Reserve to 101.2Mt. As a result the Hemerdon deposit is estimated to be the second largest reported CRIRSCO standard tungsten reserve globally. The lift in both the Ore Reserve and Mineral Resource could only be achieved from the work that has been undertaken this year as part of our work on updating the Feasibility Study, cost saving initiatives and operating efficiencies across the business.
And even the US Department of Defense have visited!
And the current market Cap? £3.8m !
Ian here is an extract which may help:-
Throughout the year, the Group continued to engage with their long-lead capital equipment suppliers, which included placing an order for the new semi-mobile primary and secondary crushing circuit which is being supplied by MO Group (Metso-Outotec of Finland). The seven ore sorters required for the plant upgrade have been delivered to the Hemerdon Mine. The construction of new screens and vibrating feeders provided by Vibramech was completed and these have been delivered to the Hemerdon Mine.
and
Inside our Mineral Processing Facility ("MPF"), a number of enhancements and upgrades have been taking place, designed to increase efficiency, reduce future downtime and reduce future maintenance, all of which were key factors that caused the previous operator to incur significant downtime. This enabled the refinery and magnetic separation end of the plant to be commissioned in April 2023 and produce approximately 50 tonnes of tin and tungsten concentrate from materials left by the previous operator.
Semi mobile crushers have been ordered - but whether or not delivered is unknown,
Why not take a look at the recently published reoort and accounts - in particular the Chairman's and Ceo's reports? See...............
https://www.londonstockexchange.com/news-article/TUN/final-results-for-the-year-ended-31-march-2023/16123544
Does anybody know what new equipments were purchased other than the 7 Ore Sorter machines ?
Ian Gordon
Item 1 0RE ORTING … gets my full approval .I understand 7 machines were bought and 4 will be used .
Were the Magnetic separators purchased ? I think not but would be good news if they were already purchased
In my opinion , if one goes the magnetic route then there is no need to operate the Dense Medium circuit and no need to repair it as it will stay idle ( about 60% of the plant idle and a big energy saving )
Ian
About 18 months ago, the plans for the process plant included two key changes vis-a vis the Wolf set up.
1. The use of X ray sorting machines
2. The use of high intensity magnetic separation (perhaps not to be used initially)
I think the plant was going to be set up so it could process both Ferberite and Wolframite.
How that may, or may not, have changed in the last iteration is unknown to me.
I understand that a long overdue plant clean up was conducted some months back as there was material that was held up in bins and silos ….this resulted in out of spec commercial products that were sold off with great discounts …. The plant has never operated since 18/10/2018
Ian "The present administration of TWL has never operated the plant and getting the “ show on the road “ is not necessarily the best thing to do "
I am under the impression that there was a test run on the plant carried out a few months ago.
Delaying getting the show on the road, may of course mean raising yet more money, having to re-submit an application for a different operating permit and then waiting 16 more weeks for the EA to issue their verdict. I would be amazed if the Ferberite point you have raised has not already been considered by the BoD. Good luck anyway with your efforts - it will be very interesting to hear how you get on,
There is no luck element in process engineering but there are alternatives that might offer less risk
Wolf got it designed badly but spend a lot of investment money
The present administration of TWL has never operated the plant and getting the “ show on the road “ is not necessarily the best thing to do
I reccomend that the project team go back to the laboratory stage and simulate the magnetic primary route and it’s follow up to good commercial WO3 product
Convince themselves first …, then try to convince their upper management … an then try to convince the markets!!!
Ian
Good luck. I hope you are able to add the the knowledge brought to bear to get the show on the road.
I did try phoning David on the given number ( which is TWL) and after a short wait I was attended by a very polite telephone woman who told me that he is not on site and only comes on site when there are meetings … she ask for my full name and telephone contact … which was given on the statement that he would return the call
Thanks for the contact number and will certainly try this out
All hands on deck !!!!6
Will inform how it went through this channel
Thanks for the contact number
Ian Gordon
Ian
If you go through the normal channels it would be
Tel 01752 278500, and arrange a call.
I would certainly like an introduction to David Cather … can anyone provide contact details ?
It would good if David could make an annoucement at the upcoming AGM that alternative process routes are being studied ( no promises ) but checking out the alternatives is the right thing to do
Ian Gordon
Ian Gordon Hall Dun
Yes you are right it should read 15 years ago( and not 25 years ago )
The initial testing was done in 3 Australian laboratorties in the 2008-2009 period …. All 3 laboratories stated that the mineralogy was Ferberite and not Wolframite
The present plant operated for the 3 years ( 2015- 2018) until some one took the bold decision and closed the operation ..,, why does TWL want to return the old circuit to operate again without sorting out the fundamentals error in the circuit ?
The solution is to spend less money and not more money
The operation must have costs that are well within the present WO3 price …. And it important that this new proposed circuit will use considerably less energy and be much more simple to control and operate … sustainability is very important
The mineral reserve is very good and great work has been done by the TWL geological team ….. they need to look at the project under a different light … present concerns seem to be focused on getting the licenses … but the licenses are for the wrong plant and will have to be all redone ….. let’s focus on the heart of the problem and this is an ideal time to change the music and reactivate the market investors ….. there is no solution if upper management is not being fed the necessary alternatives ( at least for discussion)
Ian Gordon
I smell something......
Maths isn't a great point either "one must remember that WOLF did their design work in 2008 some 25 years back "
Ian Gordon " I discovered the Wolf Minerals error after the plant had been shut down by reading the 2007/2008 Australian laboratory reports and the Tungsten mineral is Ferberite and not Wolframite …. However Wolf built the plant for Wolframite recovery and not Ferberite !!!! The fatal error in that they designed the plant for the wrong mineral and the result was low recovery during the 3 years of operation ( 2025-2018)"
My understanding is that both Ferberite and Wolframite are present in differing percentages dependent on host (killas / Granite) and depth.
Since Wolf there have been at least two main iterations of the processing plan - the first to overcome the Wolf problems, and the second to address the massive inflation encountered in the price of steel, diesel and gas, etc and the loss of red diesel. Like you I am out of the picture as to the final version.
I suggest you ask to speak to David Cather (Chmn) to discuss your ideas - talk can do no harm! However, as the operating permit application result is imminent, I guess a change to the proposed process sheet is unlikely.
There is typing error in my message about the DMS circuit … i correct and confirm the statement that “ DMS circuit is not required “
Ian Gordon
Crushing circuit (rented) preparing the mineral into 2 sizes ( > 10mm > 25mm & > 25mm > 50mm
- feed each size into the respective ore sorting circuit( high in energy to the necessary compressed air used to blow off the enriched rocks )
-crush the enriched rocks to 100%< 15mm
- Feed this product to a Ball Mill ( there are 2 units already installed) in closed circuit with a 2mm screen to produce a 100< 2mm product
-feed this product ro a wet magnetic separator working at 15000’gauss where a pre concebtateof WO3 is obtained
- the non magnetic tailing is fed to the existing Sn recovery circuit ( no modifications are required)!
- final WO3 upgrading is obtained with the use of RE rolls to remove the impurities
As a background check on my experiences in this mineral field I was involved with the BIsie project ( Alphamin Resources) in the DRC where I went to South aftica for 8 months and did all the metallurgical testing and
Involved in the engineering design as i was based in the DRA offices and I did the plant commissioning during a 60
Day period in 2019 on site at Bisie, Bisie is today the 5th largest producer of tin in the world
Look forward to help in this TWL tangle !!!
The OUTOTEC ( Research Centre ,Frankfurt ) report of 2019 is available to interested parties on the primary magnetic separation and this work was contracted by TWL and I was an observer at this work
Why was it ignored ? And still being ignored ? Can upper management reply on this question ?
Thank you Valustion -it-is for your comments
Can the upper management not publish ( at least to their holders and stake holders) their engineering progress in this plant design and modifications ?
The basic truth is that the fatal mistake i in this clumsy
Plant does need a dense medium circuit to concentrate the paramagnetic mineral ( Ferberite)
The ore sorting technology is a good inclusion into the circuit but the dense medium can be bypassed ( about 60% of the plant)!…. Then you would have a significant reduction in energy
Magnetic technology is well advanced in 2023 with the new Rare Earth magnets which have powers to separate out minerals …. … the WOLF MINERALs installed 16 x cross belt magnetic separators but these are not used nowadays due the arrival of RE rolls ( Rare Earth magnets ) one must remember that WOLF did their design work in 2008 some 25 years back …. Technology has since advanced rapidly
There is no need to purchase crushers ( using up Capex ) and crushing units can easily be rented from well known manufacturers
- crushing circuit (rented) preparing the mineral into 2 sizes ( > 10mm 25mm
I Gordon welcome to the board.
Re your comment "....and the present management needs to be pushed and persuaded into making the necessary changes to a much simpler plant design using less energy and getting much better metallurgical results …. Keep it simple ..............."
The current management have already done what you suggest and redesigned the flow sheet taking out much of the energy intensive work. I think, but do not know for sure, that it has been this re-design which has necessitated a delay for re-submission of the operating permit application.
WOLF Minerals built a six bedroom house with garages for 5 cars where you only needed a small 1 bedroom flat with perhaps 1 garage !!!
The plant is already built and it would be too costly to take it down so parts of the plant can be left without repair or upgrading as they not needed
Some new additional equipment needs to be added to correct the fundamental error in the plant design done by WOLF Minerals and the present management needs to be pushed and persuaded into making the necessary changes to a much simpler plant design using less energy and getting much better metallurgical results …. Keep it simple
Thanks for return and hope others can come on board and get changes of project direction at the upcoming AGM on 10/10
If anyone wants to have technical discussions on the detailed plant changes I would welcome a conference call
Ian Gordon Hall Dun
igordon@uol.com.br
+55 21 98444 0926 ….
Ian gordon
cheers
why is it such a nightmare,to get tungsten mines,up and running.
wres,was just the same,the processing plant,just didnt want to extract the tungsten,in an meaningfull quantities
https://www.lse.co.uk/ShareChat.html?ShareTicker=WRES
I present myself as a Metallurgical engineer who graduated in 1971 from RSM, Imperial college in Mineral Technology and have been active in this mineral world to this day and continue with projects all over the World
I discovered the Wolf Minerals error after the plant had been shut down by reading the 2007/2008 Australian laboratory reports and the Tungsten mineral is Ferberite and not Wolframite …. However Wolf built the plant for Wolframite recovery and not Ferberite !!!! The fatal error in that they designed the plant for the wrong mineral and the result was low recovery during the 3 years of operation ( 2025-2018)
I got awarded TUN shares for my discovery
Present project work has not taken the paramagnetic route into the plant design
However this can be corrected as Ferberite is a paramagnetic mineral which means it can be easily recovered by high magnetic fields and this route was tested in 2019 in the renowned OUTOTEC research centre with success … report is available to interested parties ( please contact me)
This implies that the dense medium circuit of the present plant is not necessary and no need to repair or upgrade it
This results in low Capex to get the circuit back in operation and also low Opex in the operating costs
Look forward to helping the turn around of the present situation
Keep it simple
Do some simple laboratory work to prove the concept ( all this work can be done in UK )
Ian Gordon Hall Dun ( British … sorry Scottish !! )
+ 55 21 98444 0926 ( with Whatsapp)
igordon@uol.com.br
UPDATE
Several attempts to get through to D&C EA were met with furious gate keeping . So I didnt speak with that office. However, the lovely customer services lady said that the latest they are required by law to respond is the 17th of October. I should have what was requested by then, but if they don't contact me, please call the main switchboard again. Oh dear.