PERTH (miningweekly.com) – A scoping study into ASX-listed junior Tungsten Mining’s Kilba project, in Western Australia, has found that the project could deliver some 1.1-million tonnes of tungsten, over an initial seven-year life-of-mine.

At a capital cost of A$56-million, the project would produce some 154 000 t/y of tungsten, and would have a net present value of A$36-million and an internal rate of return of 34%.

“The scoping study indicates that Kilba is an economically attractive project, and the relatively low preproduction capital cost of A$56-million is a low capital barrier for Tungsten Mining to overcome in order to join the ranks of the world’s very few tungsten producers outside of China,” said MD Paul Berndt.

He noted that the study related to only the 1.2 km strike length of mineralisation that was originally delineated over 40 years ago, out of a potential strike length of up to 7 km. The remaining potential mineralised contact zones have seen very little significant work to date, and provided an exploration target and project enhancement opportunities, he added.

“The results confirm Kilba is a viable standalone operation in its current form, and the expectation is that once the project is in production and generating positive cash flow, the financial resource will be available to extend the life and scale of Kilba by the delineation of additional mineralisation around the periphery of the elliptical eye structure that is the Kilba granite,” said Berndt.

Tungsten Mining would now move immediately to the definitive engineering phase, and would also work towards finalising project offtake agreements.

The definitive feasibility study was expected by the second half of the year, and would further focus on detailed mine planning, processing optimisation, and firming up contract rates, while reducing operating costs.

Further drilling would also be undertaken to improve the confidence levels of the resource and, possibly, to extend the resource.