W Resources, the tungsten, copper and gold exploration and development company with assets in Spain and Portugal, has released its Maiden Ore Reserves for La Parrilla mine in Spain, prepared in accordance with the JORC Code 2012:

• Mineral reserves of 29.7 Mt at 931 ppm tungsten trioxide (WO3) and 116 ppm Sn
• Average cash operating cost of La Parrilla in the first 6 years of operation is estimated at $90/metric tonne unit (mtu)
• Delivery of higher grades increases projected revenues and cash flows in the early years of production
• Life of Mine (LOM) is 11 years, based on these reserves and the progressive expansion of La Parrilla to 2 Mt/y in 2018 increasing to 3.5 Mt/y in 2020

Mining at La Parrilla will proceed in stages starting the in the Fast Track Mine (FTM) area and then expanding. The first stage FTM pit has a low strip ratio of 1.43 to 1 and will be mined for four to six years prior to a cutback to move to the larger LOM pit. Run of Mine (ROM) feed grades in the first three years of mining average 1,220 ppm of WO3 and 150 ppm of Sn at a ROM feed rate of 2 Mt/y. As previously reported this is a significant increase over previous mine schedule estimates and delivery of these higher grades increases projected revenues and cash flows in the early years of production.

Based on the detailed mine schedules and operating cost estimates, the average cash operating cost of La Parrilla in the first six years of operation is estimated at $90/mtu which is at the lowest quartile of the world tungsten cost curve.

Michael Masterman, Chairman of W commented: “La Parrilla is a large, low cost, long life tungsten and tin mine with a mine life of over 11 years and a cost structure at the bottom of the world cost curve. It is a pleasure to report our Maiden Reserves of 29.7 Mt of ore. The team is focused on commencing mining which will deliver high grades of tungsten ore averaging 1,220 ppm WO3 to La Parrilla plant in the important early years of the mine development. These higher grades boost our production and cash flows and are part of a highly economic mine development.

“The resource and mine model review has highlighted the opportunity to further increase resources and reserves and lower mine strip ratios by targeted drilling of outcropping vein packages currently characterised as inferred in the resource models with an objective of converting these resources to indicated and measured.”

W Resources is progressing the Final Investment Decision Report (FID Report) and will release the executive summary of the report once completed early in Q3. The FID Report will provide more comprehensive details on the operating and capital cost estimates and development economics. The Competent Person considers that the FID Report is at least prefeasibility study level report, and that the economic studies in the FID are positive, to the extent that extraction can reasonably be justified, and are thus sufficient for the estimation of an Ore Reserve Estimate in accordance with the JORC code (2012).

The company has completed a placement to raise £650,000, before expenses to new and existing shareholders of W. The funds raised will be used to provide general working capital and to advance La Parrilla mine development in the lead up to the planned debt financing completion in the second half of 2017. This includes:

• Completion of procurement and selective engineering on key plant items
• Final award of the crusher and concentrator packages
• Completion of small spend items help advance project execution
• Land access payment as per existing agreements with land owners.