King Island Scheelite Ltd (KIS) is continuing to advance its wholly-owned Dolphin Project, located in Bass Strait on King Island, Tas. The project contains the historic open-cut and underground Dolphin mine, the underground Bold Head mine and a low-grade tailings resource, all of which are being considered by KIS for development. The deposit was discovered in 1911, and comprises tungsten and minor molybdenum mineralisation within scheelite skarns replacing dolomitic metasedimentary units of the Grassy Group. Mineralisation is related to the spatially associated Early Carboniferous granites. Originally mined as an open pit, underground mining commenced at both Bold Head and Dolphin in the early 1970s. Previous mining ceased at both mines in 1990, because of low wolfram prices. A pre-mining resource of approximately 17 Mt at 0.85% WO3 has been determined for the resource4. In 2012, KIS completed a definitive feasibility study investigating both re-treatment of the tailings and re-opening the underground mines. Outcomes of the study include a planned 10–year mine life from both underground mining and re-treatment of tailings, producing 3500 tonnes per annum (tpa) of contained WO3 in concentrate. A review of the definitive feasibility study completed in 2013 advocated shelving of the re-treatment of the tailings, and delaying underground production for several years by concentrating on an identified resource in the existing Dolphin mine open pit floor and walls. A revised study is being undertaken and is due for completion in early 2014. KIS reported in May 2013 that Indicated Resources for the Dolphin open pit remnant, Dolphin underground and the Bold Head Mine, are 0.91 Mt averaging 0.74% WO3, 4.51 Mt averaging 1.28% WO3, and 1.5 Mt averaging 0.93% WO3, respectively, for a combined total of 78.4 kt of contained WO3. Estimates of Probable Reserves for the Dolphin underground mine (excluding the open pit remnant) were upgraded in August 2011 to 2.69 Mt averaging 1.04% WO3 and containing approximately 28 kt of WO3. In June 2011, the company reported Measured Resources for the tailings at the Dolphin Mine at a cut-off grade of 0.08% WO3 as being 2.7 Mt averaging 0.17% WO3. As a result of the feasibility study review, the tailings resource is considered marginal. KIS announced in October 2013 that additional drilling at Dolphin and Bold Head to test previously recognised shallow wolfram mineralisation revealed that, potentially, it was amenable to open-cut mining.

 

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Vital Metals Limited's wholly owned Watershed scheelite project 150 kilometres northwest of Cairns in north Qld has, as of 30 June 2012, Measured Resources of 4.42 Mt at 0.25% WO3, Indicated Resources of 11.51 Mt at an average grade of 0.24% WO3, in addition to Inferred Resources of 4.73 Mt at 0.26% WO3, using a cut-off grade of 0.10% WO3, for a total of 50.7 kt contained WO3. In mid–2011, Vital entered into an earn-in agreement with Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC), which has earned 30% of the Watershed project by co-funding a definitive feasibility study for the project. The JOGMEC interest will pass to a Japanese-owned corporation which, in partnership with Vital, will take the project into development and operation. Vital announced in July 2013 that it was extending its feasibility study to investigate tripling production rates to 3 Mt per annum, partly in response to increasing wolfram prices. The company has indicated it expects the revised feasibility study to be completed by the first quarter in 2014. Environmental approvals for the project have been granted and mining leases are expected to be granted in the near future. The Watershed deposit, originally discovered by Utah Development Company Ltd in the early 1980s, consists predominantly of quartz-scheelite vein swarms within metasedimentary rocks of the Hodgkinson Province.

 

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Carbine Tungsten Ltd's (formerly Icon Resources Limited) Mount Carbine project, 120 kilometres northwest of Cairns in north Qld, contains the historic Mount Carbine deposit. The project includes a previous open-cut mine, tailings dams and low grade stockpile, all of which are being targeted by Carbine Tungsten. The tailing dams are estimated to contain approximately 2 Mt at 0.1% WO3. Carbine Tungsten opened a tailings re-treatment plant in March 2012, with an initial shipment of 1134 MTU of WO3 concentrate in late June 2012. The company announced that the grade of concentrate produced greatly exceeded expectations from the tailings recovery feasibility study. The company is hoping for final production of 5000 MTU a month from the re-treatment plant with an envisaged project life of around two to three years. Carbine Tungsten has an off-take agreement with Mitsubishi RtM Corporation Japan Ltd. Mount Carbine which was discovered late in the 19th century comprises wolframite and scheelite in sheeted quartz veins within metasedimentary rocks of the Hodgkinson Formation. Mineralisation is thought to be related to the nearby Permian Mount Carbine Granite. Recorded production3 at the mine totals 16.6 kt of wolfram as wolframite and scheelite concentrates. Mining at the deposit stopped in the late 1980s as a consequence of low tungsten prices. Carbine Tungsten completed a favourable feasibility study in July 2012 which investigated the economic viability of re-establishing the Mount Carbine tungsten mine. The study considered an open-cut, hard rock resource along with processing previously stockpiled low-grade material, which, together, would provide a 15-year project life. A result of this study was resource upgrades in June and August 2012, resulting in an Indicated Mineral Resource of 18.1 Mt at 0.14% WO3 and an Inferred Resource of 29.3 Mt at 0.12 % WO3 using a 0.05% WO3 cut-off for 48 kt of contained wolfram beneath and adjacent to the previous open-cut mine. Carbine Tungsten indicated that it considered the Indicated Resource is a Probable Reserve also, based on mining 3 Mtpa and receiving a price of US$290/MTU. The company has indicated that hard-rock mining would only commence after processing of the low-grade stockpile had begun. In September 2012, Carbine Tungsten released an Indicated Resource of 12 Mt at 0.07% WO3 for the low-grade stockpile. The company has reported a production target of 15 000 MTU of WO3 in concentrate a month from the low grade stockpile material which it suggests will have an 8-year mine life.

 

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The price of tungsten rose dramatically following the global financial crisis from a low of less than US$200 per metric tonne unit (MTU = 10 kilograms) of ammonium paratungstate (APT) in late 2008 to mid-2009 to reach new highs of US$480/MTU in mid-2011. This price increase reflected growth in demand and tightening of supply by China. Prices have since eased, to below US$350/MTU in early 2013, before recovering to around US$400/MTU in September 2013, which is still above the 2000-2010 long term average levels. Price increases in the second half of 2013 have also coincided with a decrease in the value of the Australian dollar. There has been continued activity at a number of Australian projects, including production at Kara in Tasmania and Wolfram Camp and Mount Carbine in north Qld.

In November 2011, the German mining company, Deutsche Rohstoff AG (DRAG) took full control of the Wolfram Camp tungsten-molybdenum project, 90 kilometres west of Cairns in north Qld, as well as the Bamford Hill tungsten-molybdenum deposit 25 kilometres south of Wolfram Camp. In February 2012, DRAG delivered its first WO3 concentrate from Wolfram Camp. The Wolfram Camp mine was discovered in the late 19th century and has a recorded production3 of 5.4 kt of wolfram, 1.4 kt of tungsten and bismuth (Bi) and 135 tonne of molybdenum (Mo). Tungsten-molybdenum-bismuth mineralisation occurs within quartz pipe-like bodies within the greisen-altered margin of the James Creek Granite in contact with metasediments of the Hodgkinson Province. The Wolfram Camp mine was officially re-opened in July 2012. In December 2012, DRAG upgraded the treatment plant allowing greater throughput, and since February 2013 the company has been producing between three and four tonnes per day of tungsten concentrate, plus an unspecified amount of by-product molybdenum. Tungsten concentrates are handled by off-take partner USA-based Global Tungsten and Powders Corp. In November 2013, DRAG announced that the Wolfram Camp mine had officially commenced commercial operations with a planned 10-year mine life. The most current resource estimate for Wolfram Camp, which was released by Planet Metals Limited in May 2010, is 1.42 million tonnes (Mt) grading 0.6% WO3 and 0.12% Mo comprising 0.78 Mt grading 0.56% WO3 and 0.13% Mo in Indicated Resources and 0.64 Mt grading 0.65% WO3 and 0.11% Mo in Inferred Resources. In November 2013, DRAG released an updated non-JORC Code compliant, estimated inventory of about 3.8 Mt returning approximately 0.4% WO3. Continued exploration is planned to further define the resource.

 

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