Cornwall Resources Ltd recorded a 49% increase in the JORC inferred mineral resource estimate, from 2019, for its Redmoor tungsten-tin-copper-silver project in the southeast of the county.
ROBUST
The results include 0.49% tungsten trioxide as “Europe’s highest-grade, undeveloped, tungsten project compared to other CRIRSCO*-compliant projects” and “amongst the highest grade globally”.
Parent company Strategic Minerals plc reported that the new MRE held 17.4 million tonnes at 0.65% tungsten trioxide equivalent.
The figure is a 2.4 increase in the potential life of mine, from 12 to 29 years, at a 2020 scoping study production rate.
Alongside 0.49% tungsten trioxide, the MRE includes 0.17% tin and 0.44% copper: containing 85.8 kilotonnes tungsten trioxide, 29.0 kt tin and 76.3 kt copper.
The results also show a “significant increase in contained metal within the 2026 MRE”, which includes increases of 31% in tungsten trioxide, 55% contained tin and 30% contained copper.
Contained silver of 3,231 koz, with an average grade of 5.8 g/t, was included as a copper concentrate credit at 270g/t.
Redmoor also has an exploration target, identified outside the current MRE, of 1.8 to 3.4 Mt JORC (2012), grading 0.4 – 0.6% tungsten trioxide, 0.08 – 0.12% tin and 0.2 – 0.3% copper.
Cornwall Resources managing director Dennis Rowland said: “From the outset we established clear aims to test short-spaced continuity of structure and grade; to confirm the validity of the 1980s datasets; to infill a high-priority section of the exploration target; and to incorporate new datasets to establish the potential presence of additional zones of mineralisation.
“We have been successful in these aims and the effects of each of these is reflecting in the robust improvements in the MRE.
“These results alongside the significant improvements in metallurgical recovery for tungsten, and confirmation of recoverability of silver, have directly contributed to improved project economics.”
The company will next carry out a fully funded infill drilling campaign to convert inferred resource to indicated for a prefeasibility study.
“I cannot speak highly enough about the exemplary project design and delivery by the CRL [Cornwall Resources Ltd] team,” added Strategic executive chairman Charles Manners.
“It is hard to find any comparable project that has delivered so much, in such a short time, for the amount spent, and with such positive results.”
Cornwall Council-managed Shared Prosperity Fund match funded the Redmoor MRE project.
*Committee for Mineral Reserves International Reporting Standards