Ormonde Moving Ahead with Barruecopardo Project

Ormonde Mining (LSE:ORM) reported that an appeal relating to a compuslory land acquisition process at its Barruecopardo project has been rejected. The legal process has brought certain delays in the timeline for the project, and Ormonde provided an update on the project’s progress.
As quoted in the press release:

• Independent expert legal advice has now provided clarity on the expected time period to completion of the compulsory acquisition process, given the experience of the recently resolved administrative appeal and the process of any subsequent appeals.
• As a result, the project partners (Ormonde and Oaktree) have now approved and adopted an optimised construction schedule for the Project, which will see commissioning in late 2017.
• The optimised construction schedule also aligns first production with a more positive forecasted tungsten price environment, reducing risk and optimising project valuations.
• Saloro has completed negotiations with the Project’s debt provider in relation to amendments to the debt facility agreement (which remains undrawn) to reflect the new schedule, ensuring continued compliance with the agreement, and continued availability of the requisite capital.
• The focus of activities on the ground can now turn to implementing the new schedule including the commencement of water dam construction works.
• Tungsten APT prices have commenced a recovery recently rising to $210 per metric ton unit, ~30% above the low of $162 reached during January 2016. The outlook for tungsten in the short term is moderately positive, however medium to longer term forecasts predict substantial price rises.

Ormonde Managing Director, Steve Nicol, said:

The optimisation of the project construction schedule is a balanced response to the contents of the expert legal advice relating to the likely timelines for the compulsory acquisition of the remaining land plots, and it more closely aligns first production with a forecasted improvement in tungsten prices, with the aim of optimising project valuation.
We will now commence implementation of this new staged construction schedule, commencing with construction works on the water dams, the continued installation of site services and other construction readiness works, and I look forward to updating shareholders on progress in these, and other areas, as the schedule advances.

Click here for the full press release.