Aiming To Gain Early Access To Stockpiled Ore
Rafaella Resources Limited (ASX:RFR) has accelerated the ongoing underground development of the Santa Comba tungsten project in Spain with first tungsten concentrate now targeted for early September.
The underground was last operated in 1985 by Coparex Minera and there are close to 7,000m of workings with visible access to high-grade wolframite veins.
In August 2020, Galicia Tin and Tungsten S.L. (GTT) the 100% subsidiary of Rafaella and owner of the Project, commissioned an engineering study for the safe restart of the underground with IGAN Consultores. Since then, GTT has:
· engaged underground contractors Perforaciones del Noreste to install services,
· undertaken steps to improve access to the Mina Carmen adit,
· made safe redundant stopes and rises, and
· acquired ventilation equipment.
The company has brought forward its production plans and intends for first concentrate from underground resources to be produced in September 2021.
Early commissioning of underground operations will give access to previously stockpiled ores and significant mineable ore above flooded levels ahead of finalising commercial agreement to access near surface material.
The current drilling programme underway has included a number of deeper holes that are targeting the underground resource. Note that the economics of the underground development have not been included in the pre-feasibility study (PFS).
Initial concentrate will be generated from blasted stocks recorded as 18,000t remaining from previous underground operations. Once the stocks have been retrieved, further ore will be accessed via raise mining, a mining methodology designed to access narrow vein mineralisation with minimal dilution. However, previous ore sorting testing has determined the parameters for rejection of sub-economic ores and eliminate mining dilution in recovery of contact ores and stockpiles.
The early access to underground ore will allow the company to generate near term cash flows and stagger the commencement of operations such that the smaller volume underground will come on-stream ahead of the expected future larger volume surface exploitation.
The underground resource consists of four main veins that combined have 234,313t of JORC (2012) compliant Inferred Resources at 0.95% WO3 and 0.28% Sn for a total metal inventory of 2,221t WO3 and 655t of Sn (0.53% WO3 cut-off).
