It certainly isn’t news to anyone that tungsten is a critical metal. However, it is important to note that tungsten is slowly making its way up the global critical metals list.

A metal is deemed critical when it is found to be economically important to the functionality of society, but has a high risk of supply disruptions. In 2011, The British Geological Society published a list of what it considers the 52 most critical metals in the world. The list was compiled based on global abundance, location of production, reserves and supply risk associated with the political stability in the jurisdictions where the metal occur.

Considering that over 80 percent of tungsten comes from China, and that China is tungsten’s largest consumer, it is not surprising that the metal made the list in 2011. Add to that mine closures, halts in production and overall lack of new supply from mines in the western world, and the outlook for tungsten supply doesn’t look very good.


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Indeed there is also the prospect of some fairly small scale gold mines being opened in Scotland and Northern Ireland too, although the prospects for these may be being somewhat damaged by the recent fall back in the gold price.

Wolf’s Hemerdon project involves the re-opening of a tin/tungsten property first discovered in the 1860s and then developed and mined during World War 1, with sporadic production up until the end of World War 2.  Infrastructure is good being only some 11 km from the city of Plymouth.

The South West of England – notably western Devon and across the county border in Cornwall - has an extensive mining history having produced copper, tin, tungsten and china clay in a number of mining operations.
 

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The UK has a long mining history, but in recent years this has mainly diminished to a small remnant of its once large coal mining sector the major Boulby underground potash mine in Yorkshire, a significant china clay mining sector in Cornwall and occasional attempts to re-open some of the old Cornish tin mines.

However, in addition to the Hemerdon tungsten mine there is a real possibility for the underground mining of one of the world’s largest potash deposits by Sirius Minerals in Yorkshire suggesting the possibility of something of a mini-revival in UK mining.
 

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No commencement date has yet been set for the start of the tungsten mining contract as Wolf is still tying up some remaining loose ends before the final go-ahead decision, but the company states that the formal commencement date for the work will likely be in March next year.

The contractor, CA Blackwell, primarily has experience in multi-disciplinary construction projects, although not in mining per se, with a past project emphasis on heavy earthmoving and reclamation work.

It was selected after Wolf received what it describes as eleven quality bids, with Blackwell being chosen on the basis of bid quality and price.  The contract value has come in close to the Definitive Feasibility Study estimate of £85.5 million (A$141 million1) announced back in May 2011.
 

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The Blackwell contract is worth some £85 million ($A140 million) and will be in two phases.  Phase 1 will cover mining pre-strip and development tungsten mine, while Phase 2 is for contract mining to deliver ore to the plant. 

The contract term for Phase one is 11 months from the commencement date, followed by Phase 2 which has a five year term from completion of Phase 1 work.  

The Hemerdon mine, has a mineable ore reserve comprising a base case open pit at a cutoff grade of 0.063% tungsten of 26.7 million tonnes of proven .

And probable ore grading 0.19% tungsten and 0.03% tin within a JORC compliant resource of 401 million tonnes grading 013% tungsten trioxide and  0.02% tin which reportedly places it as the third largest known tungsten deposit in the world.
 

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China has the richest tungsten resources in the world, its tungsten ore reserves account for 58.95% of the global reserves and it provides the tungsten supply of about 85% for the global every year. In 2012, the new increased resource reserves of tungsten (WO 365%) were 200,000 tons and the output of tungsten concentrates (WO 365%) was 131,100 tons

Following its recent announcements on beginning to draw down its financing facility and the award of its fixed price, fixed term EPC Contract for the design, construction

And commissioning of a 3 million tonne/year tungsten and tin mineral processing plant at Hemerdon in the UK to Perth’s GR Engineering,

Wolf Minerals has now announced the award of a pre-strip and mining contract for the project to UK contractor CA Blackwell (Contracts) Ltd.
 

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Black Fire is keen about the future prospects at Pilot Mountain as tungsten prices have risen about 25% to about US$410 per tonne in the calendar year to date.

Pilot  Mountain is located about 250 kilometres southeast of Reno, Nevada. It is well served by nearby infrastructure, including sealed roads, nearby towns and mains power lines.

Besides the JORC Resource, the company’s drilling and compilations of historic data has also identified an Exploration Target of 10.8Mt to 12.5MT at between 032% and 0.35% WO3.

This reflects opportunities at the Garnet, Gunmetal and Good Hope prospects where historical drilling intersections require follow-up.
 

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Black Fire Minerals (ASX: BFE) has reached an agreement with Pacific Gold Corporation to accelerate the transfer of the title to the Pilot Mountain Tungsten Copper project in Nevada by paying an initial US$350,000 (A$383,966).

This will give Black Fire full title to the mineral claims covering the project, which has a JORC Resource of 6.79 million tonnes at 0.31% WO3, 22.8 grams per tonne silver and 0.17% copper.

The company has also agreed to pay PGC a further US$850,000 by 31 March 2014 to retain title to the claims.Under the original agreement, Black Fire could only achieve title once it had paid all outstanding options totalling US$1.5 million by September 2015.
 

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Rising Chinese inflation is also likely to push tungsten prices higher. A number of companies in Europe are in the process of establishing new tungsten mines to try to meet the expected gap in supplies.

Ormonde Mining (LON:ORM) is awaiting final permitting for its Barruecopardo tungsten mine in Spain that will produce 227,000 tonnes per year.

W Resources (LON:WRES) is also busy in Spain, exploring and defining a new mine and tailings treatment plant at La Parilla in the south-west of the company.

In the UK, Wolf Minerals (LON:WLFE) has just started development of its Hemerdon project in Devon having agreed a financing package.
 

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