/NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE
UNITED STATES/
/NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN,
INTO OR FROM ANY JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO WOULD CONSTITUTE A
VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OF THAT JURISDICTION/
Initially reported tungsten recovery rate for the year ended September
30, 2013 of 62.0% revised to 55.2%
TORONTO, Jan. 31, 2014 /CNW/ - Almonty Industries Inc. ("Almonty" or the "Company") (TSX-V: AII) today announced the restatement of its tungsten recovery
rate for the year ended September 30, 2013 and for the three month
interim periods ended June 30, 2013 and March 31, 2013, due to a faulty
calibration of the Company's on-site lab that occurred in March 2013.
Almonty had calibrated its lab equipment according to the results it
received from assay work carried out by two large, global independent
third party laboratories. The faulty calibration was discovered by
Almonty after an extensive review of all assay work carried out by the
Company and the external assay laboratories from March 2013 up to the
end of December 2013. The Company and the third party assay
laboratories determined that the error occurred as a result of faulty
assay work produced by the external laboratories that was used to
calibrate Almonty's internal laboratory in March 2013. This error
affected the Company's assay work carried out on the feed grade to the
plant as well as the tailings grade exiting the plant, leading to a
miscalculation of the Company's tungsten recovery rate for the period.
No other assay results were affected (blast assays, exploration assays
etc. were unaffected). The Company has rectified the problem and has
recalibrated its internal laboratory after consultation with five
additional third party assay laboratories that were involved in its
extensive review of its assay work.
The Company has begun to retune its mineral processing circuit based on
the now corrected tungsten feed grades and anticipates it will return
to its previously achieved base-line targeted tungsten recovery rate of
65% (achieved in the months of December 2012, January 2013 and February
2013 prior to the faulty calibration of its internal laboratory). The
Company does not anticipate that there will be any material change to
its plant configuration and that all previously installed upgrades to
its processing circuit can be fine-tuned and fully utilized as
originally planned.
There is no financial impact to this recalibration as it did not impact
the assay results of final tungsten concentrate produced, thereby
having no impact on the calculation of WO3 grades contained in the final concentrate that was sold by Almonty
during the affected periods.
Summary tungsten recovery information:
|
Three Months
Ended
September 30,
2013
|
Three Months
Ended
June 30, 2013
|
Three Months
Ended March 31,
2013
|
Three Months
Ended
December 31,
2012
|
Year Ended
September 30,
2013
|
Original
Average WO3 recovery rate
|
62.5%
|
57.0%
|
63.6%
|
63.2%
|
62.0%
|
Restated
Average WO3 recovery rate
|
51.2%
|
46.0%
|
59.6%
|
63.2%
|
55.2%
|
Lewis Black, Chief Executive Officer of Almonty commented, "I would like
to commend the efforts of our team in identifying the source of the
problem with our internal laboratory. After eliminating every other
potential source of the error it lead our team to suspect an error had
occurred with the initial assay results and calibration we received
from an independent third party laboratory. Now that the problem has
been corrected we are confident that the re-tuning process that is
currently underway will enable Almonty to get back to a tungsten
recovery rate of 65.0% in short order and enhance the cash generating
capabilities of the Company's Los Santos mine."
About Almonty
The principal business of Toronto, Canada based Almonty Industries Inc.
(TSX-V: AII) is the mining, processing and shipping of tungsten
concentrate from its tungsten mine at the Los Santos Project. The Los
Santos Project was acquired by Almonty in September 2011. The Los
Santos Project is located approximately 50 kilometres from Salamanca in
western Spain and produces tungsten concentrate. Almonty also has an
option to acquire a 100% ownership interest in the Valtreixal
tin-tungsten project in north western Spain.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as
that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange)
accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information
When used in this press release, the words "estimate", "project",
"belief", "anticipate", "intend", "expect", "plan", "predict", "may" or
"should" and the negative of these words or such variations thereon or
comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking
statements and information. This press release contains forward-looking
statements and information including, without limitation, [the return
to a targeted 65% tungsten recovery rate, and the success of the
re-tuning process currently underway in enhancing the cash-generating
capabilities of the Los Santos Mine. These statements and information
are based on management's beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date
that statements are made and reflect Almonty's current expectations and assumptions, which include that no additional capital expenditures
will be required to return to the targeted 65% tungsten recovery rate
that was achieved in February 2013.
The forward-looking statements and information in this press release
include information relating to the intentions of management. Such
statements and information reflect the current view of Almonty with
respect to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to
differ materially from those contemplated in those forward-looking
statements and information including the nature and type of ore to be
mined and processed at the Los Santos project and the ability of
Almonty to re-tune its production process utilizing its existing
mineral processing plant as currently configured. By their nature,
forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors and assumptions which may cause actual
results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be
materially different from any future results, performance or
achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.
Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to
forward-looking statements. Almonty cautions that the foregoing list of
material factors is not exhaustive. When relying on Almonty's
forward-looking statements and information to make decisions, investors
and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other
uncertainties and potential events.
Almonty has also assumed that material factors will not cause any
forward-looking statements and information to differ materially from
actual results or events. However, the list of these factors is not
exhaustive and is subject to change and there can be no assurance that
such assumptions will reflect the actual outcome of such items or
factors.
THE FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS PRESS RELEASE
REPRESENTS THE EXPECTATIONS OF ALMONTY AS OF THE DATE OF THIS PRESS
RELEASE AND, ACCORDINGLY, IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AFTER SUCH DATE. READERS
SHOULD NOT PLACE UNDUE IMPORTANCE ON FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION AND
SHOULD NOT RELY UPON THIS INFORMATION AS OF ANY OTHER DATE. WHILE
ALMONTY MAY ELECT TO, IT DOES NOT UNDERTAKE TO UPDATE THIS INFORMATION
AT ANY PARTICULAR TIME EXCEPT AS REQUIRED IN ACCORDANCE WITH APPLICABLE
LAWS.
SOURCE Almonty Industries Inc.