W Resources has finally announced the formal award of its mining contract, which is with General de Maquinaria y Excavación (GME) for the La Parrilla tungsten project in Spain. An open pit mining fleet, comprising three 60 t Komatsu HD605 haul trucks, is now in place at La Parrilla along with a Liebherr excavator and other auxiliary equipment. The operation will be gradually scaled-up in step with demand as ramp-up progresses, W Resources said.

It noted that the mining team will be managed locally by an experienced mining engineer and a production foreman. “Following detailed negotiations, we are delighted to have awarded the mining contract for La Parrilla to GME who bring extensive experience in mining and processing,” said Michael Masterman, W Resources’ Chairman.

“Importantly, the contract is in line with our final investment decision report, which further underpins our confidence of achieving the low operating costs we have outlined. The project remains within budget and we look forward to ramp-up to T2 of the project which will deliver significant earnings starting in 2019.”

Meanwhile, construction and installation work is progressing well at the mine, with the concentrator plant on schedule to be completed in June. Other smaller modular plants are expected to be delivered in early July in time for the commissioning of the concentrator plant.