The 100% owned subsidiary, Iberian Resources Spain (IRS), of W Resources, the tungsten, copper and gold exploration and development company with assets in Spain and Portugal, has been awarded a grant of €5,322,970 by the Junta de Extremadura Government for La Parrilla tungsten and tin project located in Spain. This equates to 32% (at the upper-end range) of the €16.6 million plant (much of it being supplied by Metso and allmineral) and facilities package that qualified for grant contribution.
The grant will be paid by the Junta de Extremadura Government to IRS once the fulfilment of all conditions (including the completion of the plant and facilities and meeting the target employment levels), as outlined in the application, have been verified in an audit by the Junta de Extremadura Government. The conditions of the grant need to be fulfilled by 14 March 2020.
Michael Masterman, Chairman of W Resources commented: “We are delighted to have reached this milestone of the award for La Parrilla from the Junta de Extremadura, which remains a strong supporter of the mine development. We are very honoured to have now concluded the process for this important grant. The success of our application is testament to the relationship and hard work from our Country Manager, Fernando de la Fuente and Mining and Government Director, Celestino Parejo. Fernando and Celestino are on the ground and have built great local relationships, which further strengthen our exciting worldclass low-cost La Parrilla tungsten and tin mine development.
“The provision of a grant for such a large proportion of our La Parrilla mine development is very positive and contributes further to our strong funding position. Importantly, the award of the grant funds strongly align the Junta de Extremadura Government with the success of La Parrilla project and we are very appreciative of their support.”
The award of the Grant, combined with the recent $35 million loan facility from Blackrock underpins the advancement of the company, in particular for the development of La Parrilla, which once fully developed will be the largest tungsten mine in Europe.
WRES is developing a large scale expansion of La Parrilla open-pit tungsten and tin mine near Merida, Spain and will adopt a staged expansion approach. The project will begin production at 2,700 t of tungsten concentrate in the “T2 phase” and will increase production to >4,000 t in the “T3.5 phase” with a planned mine life of six years
It will become one of the few mines outside China with a production capacity greater than 3,000 t/y tungsten concentrate.
