Mining company Tungsten West has boosted ore and mineral reserves at its Hemerdon mine near Plymouth, it has announced. The AIM-listed firm, which is looking to restart production at the site next year, provided the update to investors on Monday (December 19) as part of a feasibility study.
The business said it had seen a 60% increase in ore tonnage and 10% increase in contained metal from previous 2021 ore, and a 7% increase in mineral tonnage and 1% increase in contained metal from last year’s mineral resources.
The Hemerdon deposit is estimated to be the second-largest reported tungsten reserve globally.
Mark Thompson, executive vice-chairman, said: "The increase in both the ore reserve and mineral resource at Hemerdon further highlights the world-class nature of the deposit we have in Devon, which now hosts the second-largest tungsten reserve and resource, globally.”
Mr Thompson said the lift in tonnage was a reflection of the work that had been carried out at the mine over the last year as part of a cost-saving initiative and improvements to operating efficiencies across the business. He said the firm’s feasibility study would be “released shortly”.
"We intend to continue to build on this world-class asset and continue the trend of adding value through reserve and resource growth through future drilling campaigns as indicated by the scale of the proposed exploration target,” he said.
Tungsten West bought the Plympton mine out of receivership for £2.8m in 2019 when former owner Wolf Minerals went into liquidation.
In August, Tungsten saw losses widen to £13m - up from a loss of £8m the previous financial year - after being hit with rising costs. The company reported a rise in revenue but administrative expenses increased by more than £4m to £7.9m, according to BusinessLive’s sister site PlymouthLive.
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