Ann: First Blast at Mt Carbine Restarts Open Cut Production, page-9

The first blast is getting some foreign attention.

This is from UK Broker SP Angel in their morning email.

EQResources (EQR AU) A$0.069, Mkt Cap A$101m – Initial blast at Mt Carbine,Queensland

1. EQ Resources which is restarting production at the Mt Carbine tungsten mine in Queensland, has announced an initial blast in the open pit.

2. The 42,000t blast, which is smaller than the 60,000t which the company expects to be its normal size, will help calibrate the parameters to be used in normal operations and the company explains that its grade control modelling is “showing good correlation to the resource model, with expected ore grade being defined in the current zones drilled”.

3. CEO, Kevin MacNeill, welcomed the milestone of its first blasting and confirmed that it expects to “complete ramp up by the end of Q3 to meet planned production targets … [and said that EQ Resources] … is working hard to become a major player in the tungsten market this year and demonstrate its positioning as a long term supplier of tungsten, supporting critical mineral supply chains for the Western world”.

4. In its May 2023 Economic Update to its Bankable Feasibility Study for Mt Carbine (Mt Carbine Bankable Feasibility Study (eqresources.com.au), the company describes treating 350tph of ore using X-Ray sorting and gravity recovery to produce an average of 3,800tpa of tungsten concentrate at an average grade of 50% tungsten trioxide over a life of 8.9 years.

5. The company’s study envisages production at an average cash cost of US$10/mtu of tungsten trioxide (an mtu or metric tonne unit is an industry measure equivalent to 10kg).

6. Capital costs for the project of A$26m are expected to generate a pre-tax NPV8% of A$307m based on an initial benchmark price of US$350/mtu for ammonium paratungstate (APT) escalating to US$372.5/mtu by 2029.