Projects

Barruecopardo Tungsten Project

Ormonde is evaluating the Barruecopardo high-grade tungsten deposit in the Salamanca area of western Spain. Up to May 2008, Ormonde has drilled a total of 45 diamond drill holes at Barruecopardo and this work has defined a 1,500m long by 300m wide mineralised system, containing at least five high grade, steeply dipping, zones of narrow sheeted veins within granite rocks. The mineralisation is coarse grained and yields high recoveries in a gravity circuit. The mineralisation is visibly distinctive, contained in competent rocks and there appear to be no significant mining issues. 

After work programmes comprising three stages of exploration drilling and the definition of the high-grade tungsten mineralisation, followed by two metallurgical testwork programmes and an-Order-of-Magnitude Study, the Barruecopardo project has been upgraded to advanced project status. A continuous programme of infill and step-out drilling is now underway with a view to fast-tracking the evaluation of this project. The Order-of-Magnitude technical-economic study focused on a 200,000 tonne per year underground operation and indicated that the deposit has the potential to become a relatively simple, high-margin, mining operation, utilising low cost gravity concentration processing. This study indicated modest capital costs and robust economics.

Background
Salamanca is an area of substantial historic tungsten production and Barruecopardo was, until the early 1980s, the largest tungsten mine in Spain producing a high quality tungsten concentrate from open-pit mining. Ormonde and its joint venture partners on the Salamanca Project have been investigating the northern extension to the tungsten-bearing system.

Geology
Tungsten mineralisation occurs as scheelite and wolframite in quartz veins which form part of a major granite-hosted vein swarm. Veins generally have a NNE strike and dip steeply to the east. Greisen alteration is commonly associated with the quartz veins.

Five main mineralized zones have now been identified at the Project. From east to west these are as follows:

Filon Abilio Zone
Filon Principal Zone
Filon Central Zone
Filon Maestro Zone
Filon Oeste Zone

Mineral Resource Estimate (June 2008)

  • Ormonde has reported a new Mineral Resource of 3.0 million tonnes grading 0.60% tungsten trioxide (WO3) in the JORC Inferred category, up threefold from the previous figure of 1.0 million tonnes at 0.70% WO3
  • This new resource equates to 1.8 million metric tonne units (“mtu”), or 18,000 tonnes, of contained WO3, up from the 7,000 tonnes of WO3 listed in the Company’s January 2008 resource estimate
  • The scale of this major increase in the resource over the past five months reflects the exceptional results received from the intensive drilling programmes over the period, and the identification of new resource zones along the known 1.5 kilometre strike length of the Barruecopardo deposit (for cross-sections click here)
  • The new Mineral Resource significantly exceeds the Company’s near term target, and this, combined with the very satisfactory metallurgical results released on 11th June opens up the possibility of enlarging the scope of the project; the mine design phase of the project, which Ormonde has recently initiated, will address this possibility
  • There is extensive additional resource potential in the area as the multiple tungsten resource zones, currently identified at Barruecopardo, remain completely open along strike and at depth, and satellite resource opportunities exist at several prospect locations within the surrounding permit area.
For the full resource statement including drilling results and images click here.

Additional Resource Potential
The Mineral Resource has been modelled to depths of 230 metres below the ground surface, and only 140 metres below the base of the historic open pit.  Drilling has shown that all resource zones over the 1.5 kilometre strike length of the deposit continue at depth, highlighting significant resource potential in this direction.

The new resource equates to a tonnage distribution of 1.8 million tonnes for every 100 metres of depth of the deposit.  As the mineralisation remains open at depth along its full currently known 1.5 kilometre strike length, the Company believes that there is considerable scope for very significant increases to this resource in the future.

In addition to the main Barruecopardo deposit, other tungsten prospects within Ormonde’s 425 square kilometre permit area provide possible satellite resource opportunities.  In this regard, the Valdegallegos Prospect, which is adjacent to Barruecopardo, is likely to be the most significant.  A single Ormonde drillhole there returned high-grade intervals of 0.9m grading 2.7% WO3 and 1.3m grading 0.8% WO3, and extensive surface workings further indicate the presence of significant tungsten potential.

Metallurgy: The tungsten minerals are coarse grained and can be concentrated effectively by traditional low cost gravity equipment:

  • Metallurgical testwork indicates that the liberation characteristics of the tungsten mineralisation are excellent, with high recoveries of tungsten to a gravity pre-concentrate being achieved at coarse crush sizes
  • The best result has been achieved from the Filon Principal Zone where gravity tests yielded a recovery of 88% of contained WO3 to a pre-concentrate grading 49%
  • The Filon Central and Filon Maestro Zones have also provided extremely good results with revcoveries of 71% to 88% being achieved to a pre-concentrate
  • These results lead the Company to believe that high recoveries will be achieved to a final concentrate in a gravity processing plant.

Other supporting information: In interpreting the drilling results the following should be noted:

  • Much of Western production comes from small, narrow vein underground deposits. For comparison, ore reserve grades at two of the main Western producing mines, Cantung (Canada) and Panasquiera (Portugal) are 1.17% and 0.23% WO3, respectively.
  • Current prices for tungsten concentrates are in the region of US$180 per metric tonne unit (or US$18,000 per tonne of tungsten trioxide, WO3), with a grade of 1% WO3 having an in-the-ground value of approximately US$180 per tonne of mineralized rock.

About Tungsten: Tungsten is most frequently used as tungsten monocarbide, which has a hardness close to diamond, in cemented carbides. The principal tungsten applications include its use in cutting steels and in tungsten alloys, electronics, and chemical products.

Prices of tungsten concentrates are expected to remain buoyant for the long term, and are currently quoted by the Metal Bulletin in the range $160-$180 per metric tonne unit. A metric tonne unit is equal to 10kg of WO3, which equates to 1.0% contained WO3 in the rock.