me view6 Aug 2020 14:52
We are a way back from where we should be in terms of production, we should be banging out at T2 levels by now and should have been doing so for some months. So very disappointing. From what I read the majority of mining companies do not get up to full production within timescales (no excuse , but it seems to be an industry standard). However, if we can get rocking as is stated in recent Video/podcast by MM the world changes.
If producing, the intended aim to refinance the Blackrock loan at better rates becomes achievable. The first year payment to Blackrock was set up to be PIK, and the second year 50% PIK, those were built in.
We, in my view, should have had the grant money now - MM stated that it would be needed at the critical start up phase, but it has not arrived so the BOD have made alterative arrangements in leu of that - so , yep, not great, but certainly in that context good to make a facility available, to not do so would be management failure.
I always expected low initial grades on the tungsten ore and thus lower recovery to start. I also picked up that higher grades were available once through the initial benches and that there were higher grades as we moved across the site.
From the Shard-ARC report; 'La Parrilla’s resource grade is 0.099% (998ppm) which is relatively low compared to peer deposits which typically grade 0.15%-0.30% (1,500-3,000ppm). However, recent drilling by WRES in the T2 South area has
delineated a thick, high-grade zone which is expected to boost the grade to around c.1,300ppm during the first 2 years of mine life and 1,140ppm over the initial 6-year LOM. Grades must be put into context as head grade is not always
a good gauge – for example, La Parrilla’s feed grade to the concentrator in T3.5 is 3,000ppm (2.5x upgrade) due to simple upgrading in the pre-concentration stages.
Metso ****ed up the steel work initially, and then the jig and mill itself, if there is recourse on them, no doubt it will be byzantine as a process.
Given the set backs we are doing well, we are still there and we are ramping up. Now if we get trucks trucking, everything becomes very upward imho.