Mining at Wallbridge Mining’s Broken Hammer open pit operation in Sudbury is meeting the company’s targeted production rate of 800 tonnes per day, and construction of the site infrastructure is nearly complete.
Approximately 18,000 tonnes of ore have been produced to date at the Redstone mill in Timmins, Ontario, operated by Northern Sun Mining Corporation. Modifications to the mill have been completed to provide optimal metal recoveries. Use of the Redstone gravity separation circuit is expected to result in improved recoveries of coarse platinum and gold.
"We are now entering a new chapter in Wallbridge's story,” said Marz Kord, president and CEO of Wallbridge Mining. “We are a seasoned exploration company that has now successfully made the transition to mining. By generating revenues from producing saleable concentrate and delivering our concentrates to the smelters, we will strengthen our balance sheet. This opens up opportunities for Wallbridge to selectively redeploy these funds to create further shareholder value.”
Wallbridge has entered into hedging arrangement for approximately 20 per cent of projected payable copper, platinum, palladium and gold from the Broken Hammer Mine production to ensure this short-life project meets management's cash flow objectives.
Wallbridge discovered the Broken Hammer deposit in 2003 and commenced construction in March. Mining of the in-pit Cu-PGE-Ni mineable reserve of approximately 193,000 tonnes has been contracted out to William Day Construction Limited.
Two types of concentrates are being produced at the Redstone Mill in Timmins: a gravity concentrate consisting of high-grade platinum, palladium, and gold, and a copper concentrate. The gravity concentrate will be sold to a PGM facility in Europe while the copper concentrate will be sold to a nearby copper smelter. The open pit mining is expected to achieve a payback of capital expenditures by the end of November 2014, with mining to be completed by April of next year.
