First Tungsten Produced at Plymouth's Drakelands Mine

tungstentungsten THE first tungsten concentrates have come out of the ground at Plymouth's huge £130million metal mine – meaning it is now in operation.

Specialty metals development company Wolf Minerals Limited said it has commenced tungsten concentrate production from its Drakelands open pit mine at Hemerdon on the outskirts of Plymouth.

it represents another major milestone in the development of the project, and makes the company's goal of building and operating the first new metal mine in Great Britain for 45 years a reality.

Wolf's managing director Russell Clark, said: "We are very pleased to announce that as part of the commissioning process we have now produced tungsten concentrates to the required specification.

"We look forward to shipping our first tungsten concentrates to Global Tungsten and Powders in the USA and to Wolfram Bergbau und Hütten in Austria."

The company also said commissioning of the "crushing and scrubbing" section of its plant has been completed, as has the "fines" section, and that design tonnage throughput is being met in both sections.

The "refinery" section of the plant is now in the final stages of commissioning.

During the commissioning of the "dense media separation" section, the exciter bars of two vibrating screens broke due to a manufacturing fault.

The bars have been re-manufactured and replaced and commissioning activities continued, but it has resulted in a delay in the "takeover" of the plant.

The takeover from EPC contractor, GR Engineering Services, to Wolf requires the entire processing plant, and all equipment within it, to run at design throughput. However, this is now expected to happen this month.

Mr Clark said: "Overall, commissioning activities are going well and the operating teams have learned how to manage the plant in different conditions.

"Commissioning is a time when all processes and equipment are fully tested and performance established.

"By its very nature it is not unusual to encounter a number of challenges along the way and our teams are working successfully together to address these.

"It is particularly pleasing that the plant is operating as expected and we are successfully upgrading the ore to produce product that meets our customer's specifications."

Hemerdon is the world's third largest tungsten and tin resource and the Drakelands Mine is expected to create about 200 direct jobs.

The Hemerdon project will provide a secure supply of tungsten – which is regarded as a critical mineral by the UK, US and EU – and valuable export revenue for the UK.

With an estimated production of 5,000 tonnes per annum of tungsten concentrate and 1,000 tonnes of tin concentrate, the Drakelands Mine will be one of the world's most important tungsten mines, producing about 3.5 per cent of forecast world demand for tungsten in 2016.

 

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