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W Resources reaches new processing milestone at La Parrilla tungsten-tin mine

W Resources has fed the first ore through its newly commissioned jig and mill plant at its La Parrilla tungsten-tin mine in Spain.

The move follows construction completion in April and commissioning of the conveyors, pumps, thickener, two mills and two jigs over the past month, the company said.

The plant takes ore crushed to less than 10 mm and increases the grade to be fed to the concentrator plant while rejecting waste mass, according to the company. This is achieved with high tungsten and tin metal recoveries, W said.

The jigged mine feed will now be fed through the existing concentrator plant, while the new large scale concentrator plant advances to construction completion in June and commissioning in July, according to the company.

Michael Masterman, Chairman of W Resources, said: “Great progress has been made by the team which keeps us on-track to ramp-up to design production capacity of 200 t/mth by the end of 2019.

“At this stage of construction, it is important to clarify that commissioning a metallurgical plant is not a turn of a key process. In the jig and mill plant alone there are two jigs, two roll mills, a thickener, reject disposal system, 10 screens and feeders, nine conveyors, five pumps, and over 50 motors which need to be started, aligned and tied into an integrated control system. The team has done an outstanding job commissioning the plant and achieving first jigged concentrate.”

The crushing circuit at La Parrilla, supplied by Metso Minerals’ Portugal division, is made up of a C130 jaw crusher and secondary cone crusher, both with vibrating grizzlies prior to size reduction, and two tertiary cone crushers in closed circuit with a double deck banana screen.

With a throughput of 350 t/h, the two alljig® jigs, provided by allmineral, provide grading, enrichment and cleaning of the pre-ground ore at La Parrilla.

Blast off at W Resources’ La Parrilla tungsten mine

W Resources says the first T2 blast at the La Parrilla tungsten mine in Spain shot successfully on April 30.

The blast covered a mainly barren zone to prepare access to the 10 m benches closer to the run of mine pad and crusher plant in the Fast Track Mine area, the company said. This explosion continued to open up directly accessible ore to the mine operation.

Ore mined to-date at the operation, which is envisaged as a scalable project, starting at 2 Mt/y to produce some 2,700 t/y of tungsten concentrate and 500 t/y of tin concentrate, before an expansion to 3.5 Mt/y and beyond, has been free-dig or from the early blast area, W said.

“The immediate priority at La Parrilla is to complete the commissioning of the jig and mill plant, which is underway in parallel with the completion of the large-scale concentrator plant,” the company said.

Michael Masterman, Chairman of W Resources, said: “The first T2 mine blast at La Parrilla is a significant event for W Resources and kicks-off the commencement of hard rock mining operations.

“The explosive blast was completed successfully with the highest level of safety and supervision. The ore will be mined at low cost using a truck and shovel operation and transported via the newly constructed ramp to the new 350 t/h crusher plant where it will be crushed and then fed to the newly constructed jig and mill plant as part of the commissioning process.”

The crushing circuit at La Parrilla, supplied by Metso Minerals’ Portugal division, is made up of a C130 jaw crusher and secondary cone crusher, both with vibrating grizzlies prior to size reduction, and two tertiary cone crushers in closed circuit with a double deck banana screen.

With a throughput of 350 t/h, the two alljig® jigs, provided by allmineral, are expected to provide grading, enrichment and cleaning of the pre-ground ore at La Parrilla.

Metso and allmineral equipment arrives at La Parrilla tungsten project

W Resources is on course to hit its production goal at the La Parrilla tungsten project in the southwest of Spain, with crushing equipment arriving on site.

In a project update, the company said overall La Parrilla construction had accelerated during the summer months with construction completion of the crusher, jig and mill on schedule for the December quarter, and completion of the concentrator in the March quarter of next year – the same quarter it plans to start production.

La Parrilla is envisaged as a scalable project, starting up at 2 Mt/y to produce some 2,700 t/y of tungsten concentrate and 500 t/y of tin concentrate, before an expansion to 3.5 Mt/y and beyond.

W’s latest update said capital expenditure was tracking below budget, with engineering and procurement now both over 90% complete.

All major contracts have been placed, with 81.3% of the planned €27.1 million ($31.5 million) spend committed. The company also noted plant civil works were complete, concrete works for the crusher had been laid and works for the jig were underway.

Steel erection for the crusher was advancing quickly, the company said.

The primary Metso equipment for the 350 t/h crushing and screening circuit, which includes four HP300 cone crushers, a C130 jaw crusher, a VF500 vibrating feeder, MB352 rock breaker and MF2473 screen, were on site for “just in time installation”, W said.

W noted that primary allmineral equipment for the jig is arriving on site and allmineral confirmed the jig project was on schedule.

With a throughput of 350 t/h, the two alljig® jigs (one, pictured arriving on site) will provide grading, enrichment and cleaning of the pre-ground ore.

The alljig process involves the feed material initially being fluidised with pulsed water, with the grains graded according to density. The jigs separate the specifically lighter scheelite-poor yield from the specifically heavier scheelite-rich ore from the stratified material bed, allmineral said.

The processing plant, with a capacity of 155 t/h connected to the pre-concentration stage through the alljig jigs, will ensure tailings are separated from the valuable material, thereby achieving a 65% WO3 recovery, the company said.

The fines produced in several processing stages are to be recovered in a separate circuit.