Major tungsten production boost in Spain for Ormonde
MINING
ORMONDE, an Irish mining company with operations in Spain, said there is far more tungsten at its mine near Salamanca than previously reported. The shares jumped 13pc.
The Navan-based company, which is listed in Dublin and London, said a study on its Barruecopardo tungsten mine, indicated that production would be 60pc higher than expected when production begins in 2013.
The miner now expects to produce 1.1 million tonnes of ore a year which, it said, would boost profits. Tungsten is a rare and heavy metal which has to heated to very high temperatures before it melts.
Military
Prices have risen steadily in recent years as countries such as China, where most of the world's tungsten is mined, use the metal to make light-bulb filaments along with military applications such as missiles. Ormonde's mine is now expected to produce 8pc of the world's tungsten found outside China.
"We now move forward with a project which will produce substantially more tungsten than previously envisaged," Ormonde chief executive Kerr Anderson said yesterday. Mr Anderson has been instrumental in turning the former Kilkenny-based firm into the mining company focused on tungsten and copper mines in Spain.
"Barruecopardo remains a large-scale, low-capital-and- operating cost mine, providing a secure source of this strategic metal, generating significant annual net-operating cash flows, and delivering sustainable benefits to the local community."
Shares jumped 13pc to 8.9p in London yesterday.
- Thomas Molloy
Irish Independent
