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Yes, I second 2cvguy.
Best of luck to all here.
Devon, I'm afraid the rate is declining again. The latest shipment is a single container carrying 19,4 tonnes only. What's it this time? Lack of processing water, drought? http://www.bearsbythesea.co.uk/wxraindetail.php
Pleased to see you guys have got your discussion board back.
Still plenty of challenges ahead I think, but good luck to you all.
http://www.newcrest.com.au/media/presentations/2009/International_Tungsten_Industry_Assoc._Annual_conference_170909.pdf
undeveloped u/g deposit
Thanks, Gentlemen, what a fruitful discussion! These are the best postings I have seen here, ever. Thanks again!
It's the haematite mate. Like you said, overloads the circuits and magnets so I'm informed. Reports through to the product. It;s also true that the killas is heavy and I guess would cause a cut point issue in the DMS circuits. I'm sure someone is busy working on all this however.
Why would a high iron content hamper concentrating tungsten though? IIRC its in the form of hematite and its reduced to magnetite and then removed with a high intensity magnet in the current process flowsheet. I guess too much of it could overwhelm the capacity of that part of the circuit?
But that doesn't sound like an insurmountable problem. The specific gravity of the Killas (hornfelsed slates) being so high seems like a far bigger issue, and one where you would need to fundamentally redesign the processing method from scratch removing all of the gravity processing (which is the whole basis of the flowsheet), hence downgrading the killas hosted resource.
SWest,
I believe the killas has a very high Iron content. That was the original issue with recovering tungsten from the waste. If the ore sorter could upgrade the metal grade of the waste, as shown possible with the lower grade ore trials, whilst at the same time losing a large chunk of the Iron, then it may be feasible to process some of the "waste" mined from the pit. I believe from recent statements that such trials are just getting going.
All I'll say wrt the last half of the last sentence Ophidian is "Yes". That would indeed change things somewhat if it pans out :-)
I hope in the absence of Goldhanger/Daytrader/Bulent we can have some reasonable discussions and rid this chat of a lot of the mind-numbing insults and general ignorance. Hopefully this time their departure will be permanent.
On the subject of ore sorting though, and the general geology of the Hemerdon deposit, I think it prudent to remind ourselves of the colossal "Killas" hosted tungsten (ex-)resources at the deposit. See Appendix 1, 2 - of the 2010 ore resource statement here; http://www.wolfminerals.com.au/irm/PDF/1091_0/MajorResourceUpgrade
The Killas hosted tungsten is enormous, and absolutely dwarfs the granite hosted tungsten veins in volume. However, they were removed from the resource in 2015, following a review, see; http://www.wolfminerals.com.au/IRM/Company/ShowPage.aspx/PDFs/1572-10000000/34PercentIncreaseinOreReservesatHemerdonPr
And I quote:
"The reduction in resources is related to the “prospect for eventual economic extraction”. The historic metallurgical testwork indicated that recovery of tungsten within the Killas (the meta-sedimentary rocks surrounding
the granite body) was possible. However, no further testwork has been completed at this time. Accordingly, Wolf currently considers it prudent to exclude the Killas hosted mineralisation from the resources, to be revisited in the future.
Once the mine is operational Wolf will look at the metallurgical opportunities available with the Killas, such that it may be available to be included in future Mineral Resource Estimates"
Presumably this is the "mineralised waste" that Wolf are trialing ore sorting with and have managed to upgrade it to 1% WO3, which is pretty significant. This is being mined and stockpiled, so it comes with zero mining cost.
I'd be interested hearing the views of anyone with processing knowledge or experience, on why the Killas is so hard to process. I suspect it is because it has such a high density (specific gravity) - and the whole processing methodology at Hemerdon relies on gravity separation from the DMS right through to spirals/tables. By feeding in material with 1% WO3 instead of 0.15% WO3 however, maybe this could make a difference because it only needs to be upgraded 60x rather than 360x
Could be a red herring, and maybe the ore sorting could also be applied to lower grade granite hosted tungsten mineralisation. Regardless, they need to do something to increase Recovery before they go bankrupt, and Ore Sorting has had a lot of success in tungsten in the past and technology has improved a lot over the past few years too, which means it could be a game changer if applied at Hemerdon. Time is running out though.
From the last Quarterly update: - note the last half of the last sentence.....
The pre-processing trial continued during the Quarter, with success on the lower quality ore feeds confirming an upgrade in the tungsten head grade to over 1% WO3. The initial results of the metallurgical testwork on this material indicates the upgraded ore feed from pre-processing could provide a significant improvement in tungsten recoveries, with further testwork required to confirm the expected processing and cash flow benefits. The encouraging trial performance has accelerated the development of an operating plan for pre-processing to commence as soon as possible, whilst the trial continues into mineralised waste in July.
Ophidian
Another thought Richam,
It could be possible that Wolf are "ore sorting" in parallel to conventional plant processing, thus providing additional "concentrated" low tonnage feed in a bid to squeeze more Tungsten through.
I would assume that would require an increase in mining rate and as such would reduce life further. This would lead to the question regarding Wolf's ability to mine at said higher rate from the one pit, especially at depth.
??
Richam,
I think the early 2015 reserve report quoted in the order of 35Mt ore. Back of a fag packet, I expect around 2Mt per year may have been fed into the plant over the last 3 years of operation (on average say), so take off about 6Mt which leaves 29Mt.
However, I'm guessing that the 2015 reserves were calculated based upon feasibility study cost assumptions, due to lack of anything more concrete pre-production, and, as stated therein, at metal prices similar to a those of a couple of months ago. So it would be reasonable to conclude that costs have been / are somewhat higher than those quoted in the feasibility report. As such, some of that reserve stated back in 2015, may now be non-viable cost wise.
Further, the ore has been stated to be more complex than anticipated in the feasibility which I presume has added to the woes of the plant and possibly metal yields.
How much of that remaining estimate of 29Mt will have to be disregarded due to economics, and in order to provide optimal feed for the plant, is anybodies guess.
If we assume that the plant keeps improving, as stated, and ~3.0 to 3.5Mt goes through each year from now on, I calculate that would give a Max life of 8 - 9 years. Somewhat less if the above stated economic and optimal ore feed are taken into account. Even if costs come under control, there's still the metal prices to consider.
I presume the pre-processing of ore is aimed at improving said ore feed and maximising life. However, surely pre-processing and this crusher trial will incur additional cost (compared with mining direct to the plant) thus making costs even higher ? I guess Wolf see it as a worthwhile exercise. I'm wondering how they are going to keep a lid on total operational costs going forward.
Just my thoughts.
Blitz, what is your assessment on mine life based on current reserves in case ore sorting is added to the processing on a permanent basis?
Thanks for that update Richam, will be interesting to see if that average weekly tonnage improves during August and September.
Devon, tonnes shipped during July sum up to 116,3kt and tonnes received in Newark sum up to 209,5kt. The trailing 4 weeks average weekly shipment is for 58.545 tonnes.
Could it be that Ex Daytrader 13/Goldhanger have finally been excluded from this board? Thanks to everybody that helped make the removal possible. Only Bulent 74 to treat in the same fashion and this board will be freed from the abuse it has had to endure for a long time.
APT price continues to be under pressure from new supplies coming to the market, so the downward trend or prices holding at current levels expected to be in place for a period.
Another shipment of Tungsten concentrate made to GTP on 1.08.18 of 58 tonnes. If that is counted in the July total I make it approx. 215 tonnes since 1st July posted by Panjiva. Richam/adavies would you concur with those figures, or do you have any more accurate information or views on shipment tonnage to GTP we should use as a total for July?
Bulent74 should know.
Goldhanger's new login will be now he's been banned/deleted
Goldhanger,
You have absolutely no idea who I am or where I am. I think you'll find that it is you that is the fool pal.
"Its remarkable how Wolf reduced their Senior Debt from £75 mil to £63 mil within 4 years with all the problems they've had."
Yeah. They spent cash to reduce debt at an interest rate of LIBOR +4,75% and now increase debt at an interest rate of 15% to have cash. A truly brilliant achievement!
"The bridgling loan etc is not senior debt or don't you know the difference?" Yeah, the difference is the interest is now 15%, genious. LMAO
One mans speculation is another mans foresight.
If i saw a train bearing down on me, I would not be speculating if it was going to stop in time. I would avoid impingement.
"So, total debt is senior debt of £63m, plus bridging loan of £65m, plus unpaid arrangement fees and unpaid interest."
In fact it's GBP 63M, plus Bond Facility of GBP 5M, plus "bridging" loan of now GBP 69M, plus fees and interest.
Interest rates are LIBOR +4,25% for the senior debt, LIBOR +2,75% for the Bond Facility, and 15,0% for the bridging loan.
"£65 million [recently extended to 69 million] subordinated loan facility with Resource Capital Fund VI L.P. (“RCF VI”) as announced on 30 June 2018. The applicable interest rate is 15%."
If you want to get an idea of what CAN happen to a project like Drakelands where a majority shareholder continues to pour tens of millions into a money-bleeding operation, have a look at Atlantic Ltd. who once operated Windimurra. Atlantic's last stock exchange notation was ca. 20c before it was halted forever. The majority shareholder ousted all others by paying 0,3c for each share they owned.
Goldhanger.
Not what I said. I said there's some product that is high in certain radioactive elements which means it doesn't make the product spec requirements of some of the off-takers. It isn't a health and safety problem; just a product spec issue. The question was is it possible some of the plant production had been stockpiled. The answer was, I believe so due to some out of spec product being produced. It may have been blended down and sold by now.
And what on earth are you whining on about, disgruntled ex-employees ? I've no idea what you are babbling about.