Another delayed tungsten delivery
Almonty suspends mineral processing at Los Santos
2013-06-24 17:40 ET - News Release
Mr. Dennis Logan reports
ALMONTY INDUSTRIES INC. ANNOUNCES TEMPORARY SUSPENSION OF MINERAL PROCESSING DUE TO FIRE. ANTICIPATES RESTART BY JULY 1, 2013
Almonty Industries Inc. has temporarily suspended mineral processing activities at its wholly owned Los Santos project as a result of an electrical fire that destroyed its diesel generator power supply and caused severe damage to its electrical switching infrastructure on June 23, 2013. The fire started in the generator room, and the local fire brigade was called to the scene shortly after the fire was discovered. The blaze was quickly brought under control and extinguished, limiting the damage to the electrical supply building and the diesel generators, which were completely destroyed. No repairs to the damaged electrical supply building, diesel generators or electrical infrastructure will be necessary for the company to connect to the state electricity grid.
The company is working with its insurance adjusters to determine the extent of the damage and business interruption that are covered under its insurance policies. The company has informed its customer about the disruption to processing and delivery of tungsten concentrate as required by its long-term supply agreement and will restore normal shipments as soon as possible.
Pictures of the damage will be available on the company's website.
Lewis Black, chief executive officer of Almonty, commented: "We are fortunate that no one was injured as a result of the fire and that the damage was quickly contained to the electrical supply building. We are working diligently to bring the operations back on-line as quickly as possible through the use of temporary diesel generators until such time that we complete our connection to the state electricity grid, anticipated to be some time in August, 2013. We are still in operation with ore being stockpiled until processing resumes, expected by July 1, 2013. There is sufficient power available on site to run all non-mineral processing activities. We have decided to undertake quarterly repair and maintenance activities that were originally scheduled to occur in August, 2013, during this stoppage to minimize the downtime to our processing operations for the balance of the year."