JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The improvements from operating the turnaround plan at the Drakelands openpit mine, in south-west England, are showing, with the operation having delivered a 22% increase in production and a 36% increase in sales.

Tungsten concentrate production at Drakelands, which forms part of the Hemerdon tungsten and tin project, in Devon, increased to 43 498 mtu, ASX- and Aim-listed Wolf Mining reported on Tuesday.

The December quarter tungsten production compares with 35 601 mtu in the September quarter, 30 996 mtu in the June quarter and 26 903 mtu in the March quarter.

Tin production increased to 124 t in the December quarter, from 49 t, 41 t and 41 t respectively, in the three preceding quarters.

Plant throughput improved to 485 788 t in the December quarter, from 474 170 t in the September quarter. However significant gains were constrained by commissioning the improvements in the gravity fines circuit under the operating turnaround plan.

“The processing plant performance is benefiting from a more stable operating environment, allowing optimisation efforts to start building upon each other. We expect this to continue with further enhancements to our mine plan, the improvements from the gravity fines circuit and the return to seven days operations,” commented Wolf interim MD Richard Lucas.

The company stated that the major activities within the operating turnaround plan were largely completed by the end of the quarter, with only the refinery and gravity fines items to be addressed.

“These remaining activities will be scheduled over the coming months as the operating turnaround plan has been incorporated into daily activities and the focus moves to optimisation and performance improvement in a more stable environment.”

The net cash used in operating activities for the December quarter was A$8.5-million, including A$3.6-million on development, A$16.3-million on production and A$3.9-million on finance costs, with revenue of A$15.8-million.

The company had A$6.6-million cash at the end of the quarter, with further funding discussions in progress to support revenue, on a forecast gross cash outflow of A$27-million for the coming quarter.