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The summer is shaping up to be a busy time for Almonty Industries‘ (TSX: AII; ASX: AII) as development of its Sangdong Tungsten mine in South Korea ramps up.
Engineering and civil works are advancing and detailed plans for the crusher and stockpile were completed, the Toronto-based company said. Drawings for the grinding and classification sections will be the next to be finalized. Delivery of the grizzly screens and UFS screens from France and Brazil will be next, followed by the shipping of the apron feeder from Turkey.
“June and July have been busy months at the Almonty Korea tungsten project, with the successful arrival of protection screen, reclaim feeders, following on from the arrival of the (semi-autogenous grinding) and ball mill in June,” said Almonty CEO Lewis Black, in a Monday news release. “We are pleased to be drawing down funds from our lending partners KfW in-line with the project finance facility.”
Almonty closed a $75 million project financing deal with Germany’s state-owned KfW-IPEX Bank GmbH (the Credit Institute for Reconstruction) in 2021 which would cover about 70% of Sangdong’s $105 million construction costs.
The company said in April that the total amount drawn thus far was $32.3 million.
The Sangdong mine, about 187 km southeast of Seoul in the eastern province of Gangwon was historically one of the largest tungsten mines in the world and one of the few long-life, high-grade tungsten deposits outside China. Almonty acquired it in 2015 when it bought the former owner, a Canadian company called Woulfe Mining.
The fully permitted mine has a potential life of 90 years and is being reopened for $75 million. Project commissioning will be complete by the end of 2024, followed by a 12-month ramp-up period.
The first phase of production will average 2.3 million tonnes of tungsten oxide (WO3) annually. The second phase expansion will boost that to 4.8 million tonnes per year. The second phase also includes a tungsten oxide plant.
The Sangdong deposit contains an estimated proven and probable reserve of 7.9 million tonnes grading 0.47% WO3, for 3.7 million tonnes, according to an updated resource estimate published in July 2016. The measured and indicated resources, including reserves, total 8.3 million tonnes at 0.49% WO3 for about 4 million tonnes and the inferred resource is 52.8 million tonnes at 0.44% WO3 for 23 million tonnes.
