Name of the Mine
Panasqueira mine.

Location  
In central Portugal, in the Distrito de Castelo Branco, on the southern edge of the Serra da Estrela.

Mine Owner/s  
Almonty Industries Inc, an international mining company primarily engaged in the extraction and development of tungsten resources, through its indirect wholly owned subsidiary, Beralt Tin and Wolfram (Beralt), owns a 100% interest in the Panasqueira mine.

Brief Description  
Panasqueira is currently Portugal’s only active tungsten mine and one of the world’s longest producing tungsten mines, with more than a century of continuous production.

Brief History  
The first prospecting licence was granted in 1886 and the first reference to wolframite was two years later. A mining company was founded in 1896 to mine tungsten, and the underground mine has been operating since then, except for a brief period at the end of World War II and a second closure in the mid-1990s.

Almonty acquired the mine in 2016.

Primary Metals/Minerals  
Tin and tungsten.

Secondary Metals/Minerals  
None stated.

Geology/Mineralisation  
Panasqueira is a vein-type tungsten deposit in Portugal’s Central Iberian Zone, where several tungsten mines operated during the twentieth century. These deposits are commonly associated with granite intrusions into schist and slate. The most common tungsten-bearing structures are subvertical quartz veins located near granite contacts or within the granite itself. 

The deposit comprises a stacked system of subhorizontal hydrothermal quartz veins hosted in Beira schists. Wolframite mineralisation occurs as coarse, nugget-like crystals or large crystal aggregates, typically concentrated along the vein margins and, less commonly, near the centre. The overall mineralised zone extends for about 2 500 m in length, between 400 m and 2 200 m in width, and to a depth of at least 500 m.

Mining has historically advanced from the upper to the deeper levels, about 60 m to 90 m apart. Between successive levels, there are usually seven or eight gently dipping veins, with an average thickness of 0.3 m and a range of 0.1 m to 1.0 m. These veins host economic mineralisation over continuous strike lengths of about 40 m to 100 m, although they commonly pinch out and reappear. Resources have been identified across five levels, from Level 0 to Level 4.

Despite more than a century of mining, limited primary exploration has been conducted beyond active and historic workings. Exploration drilling continues ahead of production, with more than 80 surface diamond drillholes and over 4 000 underground drillholes completed. Based on past operating experience, quartz veins wider than 18 cm are regarded as significant, and future underground development is generally guided by such intercepts.

Reserves  
The most recent proven and probable reserves were estimated at 1.95-million tonnes grading 0.20% tungsten as at September 30, 2016.

Resources  
The most recent measured and indicated mineral resources were estimated at 10.03-million tonnes grading 0.23% tungsten as at September 30, 2016.

The most recent inferred mineral resources were estimated at 5.16-million tonnes grading 0.22% tungsten as at September 30, 2016.

Type of Mine
Underground.

Mining Method  
Mechanised room-and-pillar.

Major Infrastructure/Equipment  
The mine has well-established infrastructure. 

Underground infrastructure includes a jaw crusher, a belt conveyor that takes ore from the crusher up to the surface, the main access ramp to surface for mechanised equipment and personnel, four main ventilation raises, the internal hoist and shaft that connects levels 2 and 3, and the train level haulage systems on levels 2 and 3. 

Prospects  
In November 2025, Almonty announced the start of a large-scale drilling programme at the Panasqueira mine to define the mine plan for the expansion into Level 4, a new production level. The programme also aims to support an increase in yearly output and a potential extension of the mine’s operational life. 

Contact Details 
Almonty Industries Inc
Tel +1 647 438 9766
Email ceo@almonty.com
Website https://almonty.com/