W Resources Announces it Has Secured Land Access for Régua Mine

W Resources Plc (LSE:WRES) announced that it has now secured land access and all approvals for the first stage of the Régua tungsten mine development in Portugal. Land access was secured through the acquisition of the 20.3 hectares of land covering the main area of the Régua mine.

As quoted in the press release:

The 20.3 hectare land purchase covers the outcropping resource of the Régua deposit along with the trial mine facilities including the portals and the underground projected stopes. Under the Armamar municipality Land Use Plan, the Régua project area is classified as a mining area and the Régua trial mine project has obtained all required approvals from the central Mines Department and Regional Authorities.

The project has clear support from local municipality of Armamar. As announced on 27 October 2015, the Régua mine has inferred plus indicated resources of 5.46 million tonnes at 0.28 % WO3 and is open at depth and in all directions. The mine will be developed with two near horizontal adits bored directly from outcropping sections of the orebody. Run of Mine (“ROM”) feed grade for the first two years is estimated in the mine plan to average 0.43% – high by global standards and three times that at La Parrilla. The ore will then be trucked to a nearby crushing plant from a granite quarry then processed through to high grade concentrate at a new modular concentrator to be built by W on the site of the crushing and waste disposal facility. This provides the base for an estimated trial mine start-up cost of around €2.5 million.

Michael Masterman, chairman of W Resources commented:

If La Parrilla financed this month is the flag ship then Régua is the high-grade quiet achiever. Our Portugal team has secured all approvals and now the land access to allow Régua to proceed smoothly to first production. Régua’s high ROM grade at greater than 0.3% WO3 and proximity to a fit-for-purpose crushing facility are likely to prove beneficial to the project economics. We look forward to opening the first galleries at the mine later this year. Preparatory mine grade control drilling will commence in Q2 2018.

Click here to read the full W Resources Plc (LSE:WRES) press release.