NA Tungsten ships Cantung concentrate

Vancouver — The first tungsten concentrates have been shipped from North American Tungsten‘s (NTC-V, NATUF-O) Cantung mine, on the Northwest Territories-Yukon border.

The open-pit, underground operation is processing ore at a rate of about 1,000 tonnes per day. Expected annual output of 400,000 metric tonne units (MTU) of tungsten concentrate would represent around 7% of global tungsten production, and place Cantung back on top as the Western world’s largest supplier of the metal.

Cantung closed in late 2003, after its two customers, Sandvik Coromant and Osram Sylvania, terminated their off-take agreements, pushing the company into bankruptcy. Tungsten prices have rallied significantly since its closure, rising to recent levels of around US$250-US$260 per MTU from about US$47 per MTU (one MTU being equal to 10 kg of WO3 per tonne, or 7.9 kg of tungsten).

The company reports minable reserves of about 784,000 tonnes grading 1.75% WO3 at Cantung.