TIDMWRES
RNS Number : 4187V
W Resources PLC
14 April 2021
14 April 2021
W Resources Plc
("W" or the "Company")
Q1 2021 Production Report
W Resources Plc (AIM:WRES), the tungsten, tin and gold mining
company with assets in Spain and Portugal, announces its Q1 2021
quarterly production report for the La Parrilla mine in Spain.
During the three-month period ended 31 March 2021, the plant
operated mostly on a five-day week for ten of the 13 weeks in the
period. In Q4 2021, the Company plans to return to a 7-day working
week.
The plant was closed for two weeks for planned improvement
maintenance, however unseasonal heavy rain caused high water levels
which halted production, resulting in the plant being closed for a
total of three weeks.
Work is currently underway to reduce the high water levels at
the mine and introduce a permanent solution to resolve this issue
going forward. This work has started and after completion the team
will be able to once again safely access the high-grade ore
bodies.
Key Metrics
-- A total of 196,094 tonnes ("t") of Run of Mine ("ROM") ore
fed to the La Parrilla plant in Q1 2021
-- Total tungsten and tin concentrate production of 92.4t
-- Tungsten ("WO(3) ") concentrate production of 63.5t
-- Tin ("Sn") concentrate production of 28.9 dry metric tonnes ("dmt")
La Parrilla Production Summary
Production for Q1 2021 was impacted by both the plant
improvement shutdown and the unseasonal weather conditions, which
prevented access to high grade ore areas.
As a result, production for Q1 2021 was restricted to 45 days,
compared to 52 days for Q4 2020. The pro-rata variance below
adjusts for the reduced days.
Q1 2021 Q4 2020 Variance Variance
Actual Actual Comparison Pro rata
========================== ======== ======== =========== =========
WO(3) contained metal
(mtu) 3,916 6,698 -42% -32%
Sn contained metal (dmt) 16.3 18.8 -13% 0%
Total contained metal
(dmt) 55.5 85.8 -35% -25%
========================== ======== ======== =========== =========
('dmt' - dry metric tonnes, 'mtu' - metric tonne unit (1 mtu =
10kg of metal))
Michael Masterman, Chairman of W Resources , commented: " Q1
2021 started strongly with high production numbers for January.
"The initial scheduled four-week closure for plant improvements
was reduced to two weeks and recovery rates improved.
Frustratingly, heavy rain hampered progress and for safety reasons
we had no option but to halt production for an additional week. Due
to high water constraints, we did not have access to high grade ore
areas and the ore that we used was of lower grade, less fresh and
with high levels of ultrafines through much of March. This has
clearly impacted production, such that whilst production picked up
towards the end of March, we did not achieve the record production
we were anticipating for the quarter.
In April the quality of ore fed into the plant has improved, as
has the production of concentrate."
Q1 2021 Overview
In Q1, the plant improvement programme was finalised resulting
in the desired outcome of significant plant improvements and
improved efficiencies.
Concentrator plant recovery for tungsten during February was
greater than 60%, an all-time high.
The mine strip ratio for the quarter was higher than normal as a
result of the works carried out to catch up on the delay in mine
waste extraction accumulated in 2020. These works were necessary to
allow access to new ore areas in the year ahead.
Unseasonal winter weather conditions created higher water levels
at the mine and access to higher-grade ore has not been possible,
resulting in lower than anticipated production.
Q1 2021 Q4 2020 Variance Variance
La Parrilla Production Actual Actual Comparison Pro rata
Summary
============================= ======== ======== =========== =========
ROM feed: tonnes mined
(wmt) 196,094 261,841 -25% -13%
Strip ratio 5.13 1.19 331%
Jig plant: tonnes processed
(dmt) 163,866 236,677 -31% -20%
WO(3) feed grade (ppm) 744 943 -21%
WO(3) recovery (%) 32% 31% 3%
WO(3) concentrate (dmt) 63.5 100.0 -36% -27%
WO(3) concentrate grade
(%) 61.6 67.0 -8%
WO(3) contained metal
(mtu) 3,916 6,698 -42% -32%
Sn feed grade (ppm) 228 321 -29% -18%
Sn recovery (%) 44% 26% 69%
Sn concentrate (dmt) 28.9 33.4 -13% 0%
Sn concentrate grade (%) 56.6 56.3 1% 16%
Sn contained metal (dmt) 16.3 18.8 -13% 0%
Total concentrate (dmt) 92.4 133.4 -31% -20%
Total contained metal
(dmt) 55.5 85.8 -35% -25%
============================= ======== ======== =========== =========
* Q4 2020 production was based on working 4 days a week and Q1
production was based on working five days a week.
Recovery
Tungsten and tin recoveries both increased during the quarter,
with tin recoveries increasing by 69% to 44% and tungsten by 3% to
32%. Q1 2021 had the highest recovery rates since mining commenced
at La Parrilla.
Health and Safety
During the shutdown period there were at times 50 to 60
subcontractors on site and during this period there were no
accidents, no lost time and no Covid-19 incidents. This goes to
show that the policies applied at the mine are working well.
Plant Utilisation
Plant utilisation increased from 79.6% to 84.8%
quarter-on-quarter, and this is our best performance to-date.
Shipments
During the quarter W Resources made three tungsten concentrate
shipments totalling 59.2t and one shipment of tin concentrate,
totalling 20t.
Q1 2021 Q4 2020 Variance Variance
Actual Actual Comparison Pro-rata
========================== ======== ======== =========== =========
Tungsten concentrate (t) 59.2 100.2 -41% -32%
Tin concentrate (t) 20.0 26.1 -23% -11%
========================== ======== ======== =========== =========
Commodity Pricing
European ammonium paratungstate ("APT") pricing remains strong
at US$270-US$278 - Metal Bulletin Board 9 April 2021.
The LME Tin price continues to strengthen reaching a three-month
forward price of $25,757 per tonne again as per the Metal Bulletin
Board.
Production Guidance
As a result of the Plant Improvement Programme the team has more
confidence in issuing a production guidance for 2021:
-- The Company expects annual production of concentrate to be between 880t and 1,000t
The number of 24h working days per week are expected to be:
-- Q2, 5 working days a week
-- Q3, 5 working days a week
-- Q4, 7 working days a week
Ore constraints have necessitated a delay in the planned
introduction of working on a 24/7 basis until October 2021.
Employees
As production increases throughout the year the number of
employees at the mine is also expected to increase.
The number of staff employed as at 31 March 2021 was 82 and is
forecast to be 102, 135 and 135 respectively for the quarters
ending 30 June, 30 September and 31 December 2021.
The Company believes that better recoveries and more efficiency
will result in the same number of staff at the end of Q3 and Q4
whilst still delivering a stepped increase in production.
La Parrilla Historic Production Summary
Q1 2020 Q2 2020 Q3 2020 Q4 2020 Q1 2021
============================= ========== ========== ========== ========== ==========
No. working days 39 52 45
Actual Actual Actual Actual Actual
ROM feed: tonnes mined
(wmt) 273,656 253,256 171,454 261,841 196,094
Strip ratio 1.07 0.58 1.38 1.19 5.13
Jig plant: tonnes processed
(dmt) 240,926 228,060 148,417 236,677 163,866
WO(3) feed grade (ppm) 800 845 857 943 744
WO(3) recovery (%) 17% 16% 30% 31% 32%
WO(3) concentrate (dmt) 58.9 47.6 54.7 100.0 63.5
WO(3) concentrate grade
(%) 56.1 57.4 69.8 67.0 61.6
WO(3) contained metal (mtu) 3,306 2,756 3,820 6,698 3,916
Sn feed grade (ppm) 282 307 181 321 228
Sn recovery (%) 22% 25% 37% 26% 44%
Sn concentrate (dmt) 23.3 41.2 22.9 33.4 28.9
Sn concentrate grade (%) 51.9 48.5 42.7 56.3 56.6
Sn contained metal (dmt) 12.1 20.0 9.8 18.8 16.3
Total concentrate (dmt) 82.2 88.8 77.6 133.4 92.4
Total contained metal (dmt) 45.2 47.6 48.0 85.8 55.5
============================= ========== ========== ========== ========== ==========
Shipments
The historic shipments from La Parrilla are as follows:
Q1 2020 Q2 2020 Q3 2020 Q4 2020 Q1 2021
====================== ======= ======== ======== ======== ========
Tungsten concentrate
(t) 30.1 58.9 62.1 100.2 59.2
Tin concentrate (t) 20.2 20.6 38.1 26.1 20.0
====================== ======= ======== ======== ======== ========
Investor Presentation
Michael Masterman (Chairman), Pablo Neira (Executive Director)
and Paul Hailes (CFO) will host an investor Q&A later this
month, the details of which will be announced shortly.
The Company looks forward to issuing its Q2 2021 Production
Report in July of this year.
Information communicated within this announcement is deemed to
constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse
Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 which is part of UK law by virtue of
the European Union (withdrawal) Act 2018. Upon the publication of
this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be
in the public domain.
Enquiries:
W Resources Plc Grant Thornton UK LLP
Paul Hailes Colin Aaronson / Seamus Fricker
investor@wresources.com / Harrison Clarke / Lukas Girzadas
www.wresources.com T: +44 (0) 20 7383 5100
Joint Broker Joint Broker
Turner Pope Investments (TPI) Alternative Resource Capital /
Ltd Shard Capital
Andy Thacker / Zoe Alexander Alex Wood
T: +44 (0) 203 657 0050 T:+44 (0) 207 186 9004
www.turnerpope.com www.altrescap.com
Damon Heath
T:+44 (0) 207 186 9952
www.shardcapital.com
Alma PR
Justine James
M: +44 (0) 7525 324431
wres@almapr.co.uk
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