Malaga to Recover Additional Tungsten From Its Tailings Pond

To continue to meet growing demand for its strategic metal, Malaga Inc.is pleased to announce today that it will undertake the construction of a pilot plant to validate the proof of concept studies for recovering and reprocessing tungsten from its existing tailings pond. In March 2012 the company's NI 43-101 reported that the pond contains 450,000 tonnes @ 0.14% WO3 of inferred resources.

Financed by an advance on sales from Malaga's current customer, Global Tungsten & Powders Corp ("GTP"), construction will begin immediately with first delivery expected in Q3-2012. Assuming a 50% recovery rate, Malaga would produce an additional 31,500 metric tonne units (MTU's) over the next few years from the current tailings pond, which is the equivalent value of $10M USD in revenues at current market prices.

"We are pleased to valorize the tungsten content from our current tailings pond, and look forward to using the cash flow generated from this project to invest in development of the Pasto Bueno mine," said Pierre Monet, President and CEO of Malaga Inc. "We are also pleased to benefit from GTP's on-going support and their position as a leading player in the tungsten sector."

To help increase the current plant recovery rate, the intent is to add screens that will capture the very fine particles which the current production line is unable to process. The project consists of pumping the tailings from the current pond to the pilot plant; sorting the material through a series of different screens, and then processing it through magnets to obtain a final concentrate. It's expected that the pilot plant will have a capacity of 300 tonnes per day. Upon success of the recovery project, Malaga will install additional recovery capacity and add new screens to the current production line in an effort to continue to improve the recovery rate as well as reduce future closure costs. 

Woulfe Mining announced Feasibility Study for Sandong Mining Project

Vancouver (BC), Canada – The feasibility study, prepared under the direction of Tetra Tech, is based on mining 1.2 million tonnes from the main and footwall ore bodies above the valley floor (probable tungsten reserve 13.3 million tonnes at 0.425 per cent WO₃ with a cut-off of 0.24 per cent WO₃). The feasibility considers a window of 11.5 year mine life based on reserves. Infill drilling is ongoing in the eastern hanging wall and western extensions of all three mineralised zones above the valley floor with a view to further upgrading the 53.9 million tonnes of inferred resources and extending the mine life.

The ore will be mined by mechanised drift and fill methods and trucked to surface, crushed through a two stage crushing circuit and delivered to a fine ore bin. Comminution is via a primary rod and secondary ball mill that grinds and feeds the ore to a sulphide molybdenum/bismuth flotation circuit. The tail of the sulphide float is then processed through a tungsten (WO₃) oxide float at a recovery of 85 per cent of the tungsten in concentrate. The concentrate is then processed through an APT refining plant to produce approximately 400,000 mtu (metric tonne units (10 kilogram) equivalent to 4000 tonnes) of Tungsten (WO₃) per year in the form of Ammonia Para Tungstate (APT) which is then sold for the manufacture of hard metal tooling.

The feasibility study further makes provision for the extraction of by-product molybdenum and bismuth in a sulphide concentrate circuit. However no value has been attributed to the recovered metal as the downstream process for the concentrate is still in a design stage. Further it was believed prudent to include the capital and mining costs for owner mining; however, it is likely that one of the many tunneling contract companies in Korea will be used to develop the mine at a substantially lower unit cost. This has not been considered as tenders were not available at the closing date for the feasibility study inputs.

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The feasibility study builds upon the technical and economic criteria established during the pre-feasibility stage undertaken by Tetra Tech and confirms the technical and financial viability of constructing and operating a 1.2 million tonnes per year underground tungsten mine including a process plant and an APT plant to produce an Ammonium Para-Tungstate final product.

First ore accepted to the process plant is targeted for 2013 following a 15 month construction phase beginning in 2012. Probable Mineral Reserves of 13.3 million tonnes of ore grading 0.425 per cent WO₃ results in an 11.5 year mine life. Initial capital costs are estimated to be USD 151.3 million including a pre-development cost of USD 8.2 million and including a contingency of USD 7.8 million.

The Application of Tungsten and Rare Earth in Military

Tungsten is a rare metal with high melting point , belonging to the family of VIB in the sixth cycle of the periodic system of elements. Tungsten is silver-white metal with the appearance similar to steel. Tungsten's high melting point, low vapor pressure and the evaporation rate is also small. Tungsten metal can resist  high temperature without deformation.It has been widely used to produce high-speed steel, high-speed cutting tools, and military industries. In aviation and rocket technology, and other sectors where machine parts, engines and instruments with high temperature resistance are needed, tungsten and other refractory metals (tantalum, niobium, molybdenum, rhenium) alloy is used as a strong material.Tungsten resources are used for a variety of high-speed ammunition, especially armor-piercing 

 
Rare Earth is the lanthanide elements in the periodic table, - lanthanum (La), cerium (Ce), praseodymium (Pr), neodymium (Nd), promethium (Pm), samarium (Sm), europium (Eu), gadolinium (Gd), terbium (Tb), dysprosium (Dy), holmium (Ho), erbium (Er), thulium (Tm), ytterbium (Yb), lutetium (Lu), as well as the two elements- scandium (Sc) and yttrium (Y) for a total of 17 kinds of elements known as rare earth elements (RareEarth). Referred to as rare earth (RE or R).

Rare earth metals are widely used in the field of electronics, petrochemical, metallurgy, machinery, energy, light industry, environmental protection, agriculture,etc.It also plays an extremely important role in the military industry.

 

To build Chinese Carrier of Tungsten Industry

Tungsten resources of Jiangxi province play an important role in China and even in the world. Ganzhou ,one of cities in Jiangxi province,is known as "the tungsten capital of the world".There is a good news that prospecters found 0.35 million tons of tungsten in Wuning. Tungsten resources in the region is expected to amount to more than 1 million tons.

The tungsten industry in Jiangxi province makes great contribution to the economy of Jiangxi province.The income of the state-owned enterprise Jiang Tungsten Holding group topped 1O billion yuan. How can tungsten industry in Jiangxi be stronger than before? How can tungsten industry be more friendly to environment? This is a topic worthing discussing. 

New Understanding of Tungsten Metal

A few years ago, people just have a general understanding of tungsten metal, but didn't focus on its value. With the development of science and technology, people began to realize that it is the magnetic material which is hard to be replaced, then people connect tungsten metal with value. Al last, tungsten metal became popolar in the market. Unlike oil, pork,steel, tungsten metal is not often seen in our daily life and it has a sense of mistery. The value of small metals like tungsten metal is revealed with the development of science and technology. The more advanced of science, the more requiements for material. The requirements for airplanes in the past is just the ability of high and fast flying. Now we need anti-radar radiation to be used for airplanes. These requirements can not be meeted by ordaniry materials except rare materials. Nowadays, we are advocate innovation of science and technology, high-tech industry is developping very fast, so more and more small metals will be excavated

Tungsten:Toxic or Non-toxic to Environment

A piece of manuscript describes the distribution, fate and transport of tungsten used in training rounds at three small arms ranges at Camp Edwards on the Massachusetts Military Reservation (MMR), USA. Practice with tungsten/nylon rounds began in 2000 subsequent to a 1997 US Environmental Protection Agency ban on training with lead. Training with the tungsten rounds was halted in 2005 because of concerns regarding tungsten's environmental mobility and potential toxicity. This study, therefore, examines how tungsten partitions in the environment when fired on a small arms training range. Soil sampling revealed surface soil concentrations, highest at the berm face, up to 2080 mg/kg. Concentrations decreased rapidly with depth--at least by an order of magnitude by 25 cm. Nonetheless, tungsten concentrations remained above background to at least 150 cm. Pore-water samples from lysimeters installed in berm areas revealed a range of concentrations (<1-400 mg/L) elevated with respect to background although there was no discernable trend with depth. Groundwater monitoring well samples collected approximately 30 m below ground surface showed tungsten (0.001-0.56 mg/L) attributable to range use.

Why Big Money is Attracted to Tungsten

Tungsten is a metal that is critical to modern life, but until now it has largely remained below the investment radar. However, when a legendary investor such as Warren Buffet- or at least a firm in which he has major stakes-  invests in a tungsten project, the metal is bound to become a subject of growing interest.

Last month,Woulfe Mining (TSXV:WOFOTCQX:WFEMF,FWB:OZ4) inked a deal with International Metalworking Companies (IMC), a member of Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway. The companies agreed to create a tungsten pipeline in South Korea.

The deal raised questions as to who has tungsten in their portfolio and what opportunities they see in the metal.

According to an investment NOTE provided by Christopher Ecclestone, Principal and mining strategist at , tungsten has long been a metal of interest to the cognoscenti. And though the metal has not attracted the interest of broader portfolio investors, heavyweight trading houses have started to circle around players of merit.

Tungsten is more than just an extremely hard metal. It is one around which modern life revolves, and in many of the applications for which it is used, there is no substitute.

“If you are going to work with steel in almost any shape, then you need tungsten to machine it,” said Nick Smith, Manager of Investor Relations at Woulfe Mining. “Without tungsten western manufacturing comes to an end. You are not working with steel or metal without tungsten. There’s no global mining unless you have tungsten tip drills.”

Tungsten has a wide range of applications across many industries, including aviation, electronics, and medicine. But its role in making carbide-cutting tools is one of the ones that is most widely recognized.