Wolf Minerals Receives Temporary Approval to Increase Operating Hours at Drakelands Mine

Wolf Minerals Limited (ASX:WLF,AIM:WLFE) announced it has received temporary approval from the Devon County council to increase the primary crusher’s operating hours at the Drakesland mine to 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Previously, the primary crusher, which is located at the company’s Hemerdon tungsten and tin project in Devon, southwest England, was restricted to running for five and a half days per week.

As quoted in the press release:

Construction of the Drakelands mine is nearing completion and this change in working hours will take the form of a six month trial, allowing Wolf to demonstrate that it can operate within and comply with the required noise limits at all times of the day and night. The trial will commence when ore crushing starts and will provide Wolf with the opportunity to commission the plant and ramp up production at the new Drakelands mine without weekly interruptions. If successful, Wolf will apply to make the change permanent.

Russell Clark, managing director at Wolf Minerals, commented:

This is welcome news. Commissioning is always challenging and it will be considerably easier if we don’t need to schedule downtime every weekend for a day and a half. The processing plant will run far more efficiently working steady state and we can schedule maintenance periods when we need them rather than when the plant has been turned off as part of a planning permission requirement.

We recognize that this change comes with a responsibility on our part to continue to meet the environmental conditions regarding noise specifically, and we are particularly appreciative of the local community for trusting us to fulfill our obligations. We aim to demonstrate that we can do just that.

This change will, if permanently approved, provide us with over 27 percent more operating time, giving us the option to produce significant additional tonnage of tungsten and tin concentrates with no additional capital expenditure requirements. It also provides the opportunity to lower operating costs, pushing the operation further down the cost curve of tungsten production.

Click here to read the Wolf Minerals Limited (ASX:WLF,AIM:WLFE) press release.
Click here to see the Wolf Minerals Limited (ASX:WLF,AIM:WLFE) profile.