North American TungstenCorporation (TSX: V.NTC, Stock Forum) announced Monday that it will temporarily suspend production at its CanTung tungsten mine in the Northwest Territories, effective October 15.
The move comes as a result of increased product inventory and declining tungsten prices, says the company.
“The mine will be placed on a care and maintenance program that will enable a timely and cost effective return to production when market conditions improve,” says North American Tungsten, which adds that it will continue to sell product from inventory and will have sufficient material to satisfy all contractual sales obligations.
"I expect that a tungsten supply shortfall will develop as the world economy improves. We fully intend to pursue plans to return the mine to full operations after markets have significantly firmed," says Stephen Leahy, the company’s chairman and CEO.
The company says it will continue with its planned summer exploration drilling program at both the CanTung Mine and the MacTung Deposit, with the majority of funds spent on the MacTung Deposit.
In a post on the company’s Bullboard early Monday morning, brennan said: “The employees at the Cantung Mine received written notice over the weekend that the mine will be shutting down effective Oct 21/09. Will be interesting to see if they halt the stock before Monday's open[sic].”
Shares of North American Tungsten were down more than 21% to 12.5 cents Monday.
