Group 6 Metals Starts Work on Dolphin Tungsten Project at King Island

Group 6 Metals Limited (G6M, formerly King Island Scheelite Limited) has started work on its Dolphin Tungsten Project on King Island, while the company has appointed a new chief executive officer. G6M said that following the delivery of a D8 bulldozer on Jan. 20, work on its Grassy Earthworks at its Dolphin project began in late January.

The company has a $49 million construction contract with Balarat-based Gekko Systems to design, procure, construct and commission the processing plant and related facilities for the redevelopment of the Dolphin Mine, which closed in 1990.

In its recently released December quarterly report, it said benchmark ammonium paratungstate prices rose during the quarter and again by late January, reaching their highest price in three years.

Plans to bring a rig to the island in December to complete an exploration drilling program have been delayed. The company says this is due to the low availability of rigs in Tasmania. The rig is now expected to arrive in late February.

Meanwhile, the state government announced in December a $2 million grant to Tasmanian Hydro to upgrade the capacity of the transmission line to the mine.

The company said, "Without the transmission line upgrade, Dolphin Tungsten Project would have relied on diesel generators to provide electricity. Therefore, being able to connect to a grid supply to King Island that contains a high percentage of renewable energy presents a very good outcome from both an energy cost and environmental perspective."

Meanwhile, Group 6 Metals has appointed a new CEO, Keith McKnight, at a salary of $30,000 per month, effective January 24.

McKnight said he has more than 22 years of mining and resource project delivery experience, as well as company management experience in mechanical design, contract management, construction management, commissioning and operations management.

Mr. McKnight said, "G6M is a company with a strong foundation for growth, a world-class tungsten asset in Dolphin, and a great team that is passionate about the industry and the community."

The Dolphin Project, located near the town of Grassy on the southeast coast of King's Island, operated from 1917 to 1992, when it was closed due to low tungsten prices. At that time, approximately 50% of the known resource had not been mined. King Island is the westernmost large island in Bass Strait. Grassy was historically a mining town that served the Dolphin Mine, which produced scheelite until 1992.

Over the past several years, Group 6 Metals has focused on optimizing the redevelopment strategy for the Dolphin Tungsten Project, which contains JORC 2012 compliant mineral reserves of 4.43 million tonnes grading 0.92% WO3 (0.2% cut-off for open pit mining and 0.7% for underground mining). Total mineral resources including mineral reserves are 9.6 million tonnes grading 0.90% WO3 (0.2% cut-off).

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