Production totalled 74,629 metric tonne units (mtus) of WO3, an increase over the previous quarters’ production of 43,727 mtus. Production mill feed for the quarter totalled 101,873 tons with an average grade of 1.03%, due to mill availability running at a rate of 97%. The market remained strong during the quarter, rising to US$461 per mtu of ammonium paratungstate (APT) at June 30, 2011.
The production of copper during the quarter totalled 181,960 lbs in the form of a 21% Cu concentrate, an increase of 93,118 lbs over Q2 2011.
"We have seen the impact of a lot of our new equipment and upgraded systems and are pleased with the results, especially in the mill where recoveries reached 80.4% for the month of June,” said North American Tungsten CEO Stephen Leahy. “We still have some catching up to do in underground development but are hopeful that we can speed up the work in that area. We are extremely pleased with the third quarter production essentially meeting our targets. We will continue to work towards our corporate production goals in the quarters to come."