Wolf Minerals has reported its first financial results since commissioning the Drakelands tungsten/tin mine in September 2015. The company recorded a loss for the six months to 31 December 2015 of A$24.2 million (approximately £12.8 million), equivalent to 1.6 pence per share.
The mining operation and processing plant are still ramping up to full production, although the company reported initial tungsten concentrate sales in the period, receiving revenue of approximately £0.98 million.
Mining activities were concentrated on the western side of the open pit and the company completed trial blasting (principally for noise monitoring) in October and expects to be blasting on a regular basis before the end of March. Thus far the soft ore has only required mechanical digging.
Wolf continues to work with the plant engineering contractor, following handover in September, on remaining issues and reports that throughput tonnages and recoveries are increasing steadily, despite experiencing some downtime in December 2015 owing to faults in certain pieces of equipment (fully covered under warranty).
The company has commenced site works for a replacement public road to allow the full development of the Mining Waste Facility.
Wolf has successfully negotiated a short term rescheduling of debt repayments with its senior secured loan providers after the dramatic fall in product prices led to revenue for the half year being below expectations.
Progress for Wolf at Drakelands: WLFE