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| The first ore enters the plant |
Charlie Northfield, Process Plant Manager at Drakelands tungsten-tin mine in Devon, reports that ore commissioning began on Tuesday. Charlie gave a paper at Physical Separation '15 a couple of weeks ago, describing the interesting flowsheet incorporating DMS, spirals, tables, low and high intensity magnetic separation, and flotation.
Pre-celebrations for the start-up commenced at the Devon mining sundowner on 12th June, with over 30 Wolf employees, contractors and visitors at the Miners’ Arms, Hemerdon. Visitors from afar included John and Sylvia Williams, Maintenance Manager and Maintenance Planner respectively and former colleagues of Jeff Harrison (Wolf Operations Manager) at Queensland Magnesia in Australia. Shown below are Jeff, John, Sylvia and Yvonne Harrison.
Wolf maintenance personnel have been working hard assisting the contractors with the installation and pre-commissioning of process equipment. Shown below relaxing after a tough week are Matt le Gassick, Adam Bromley, Amy Hatswell, Luke Farnell and Ryan McGlinchey.
The on-site SGS laboratory has been successfully commissioned and laboratory personnel enjoyed a celebratory drink. Shown below are Tom Wassell, Dave Mann, John Avery and Stephanie Merry.
We wish Charlie and his team well and look forward to hearing more on progress on this important new mine.
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According to Wolf Metal's Feasibility Study of the Hemerdon Drakelands Mine published 11 July, 2011, the sensitivity analysis indicates that
ReplyDelete@ current APT prices to 3 July, 2015, US$220 to US$230 per mtu
Drakelands NPV < AU$0.00, IRR < 7%, payback > 9 years
Longterm median tungsten price US$292
current ASX stock price Wolf Metals AU$0.33
Can this mine be profitable in the short term or is it doomed to dormancy until the next boom in tungsten price after the currently stockpiled ore is extinguished?