Almonty Industries Inc has announced a significant milestone in the development of its Sangdong tungsten mine and processing plant, in South Korea, with the arrival and installation of grinding equipment from Metso Corporation.

This development brings the Sangdong project one step closer to full operations, marking a pivotal moment in the effort to supply a new source of tungsten from outside of China, it says.

Sandong has reserves of 7.9 Mt at an average grade of 0.47% WO3 for 37,111 t of contained WO3.

The installation of Metso’s SAG mill and ball mill is critical to enabling efficient and precise processing of tungsten ore. Metso will manage every stage of the ball mill installation, including site preparation, equipment assembly, precise alignment and commissioning. Furthermore, Metso emphasised the critical importance of aligning the machinery to exacting tolerances, limiting deviations to just 0.008 mm/m. This precision ensures maximum operational stability and extends the equipment’s longevity.

Almonty’s Chairman, President and CEO, Lewis Black, said: “We sincerely appreciate Metso and its specialised professionals for their dedicated effort and hard work in delivering this significant engineering output, applying their paralleled experience and expertise in the mining industry to develop the most optimal design criteria for the equipment and processing at the Sangdong plant.”