Unseasonal weather conditions during early February caused flooding in an adjacent historic mine, making it made it unsafe for the team to access the higher-grade ore and delaying the recommencement of production until mid-February.
"It is frustrating that as we find ourselves on the cusp of seeing significant increases in the production of concentrate with much-improved plant processing, we are denied access to our highest-grade ore due to high water levels," said Michael Masterman, chairman of W Resources.
"The team is working hard to resolve this and as soon as the water levels fall and we can safely access our higher-grade ore, we can then start to ramp-up to more significant growth in concentrate production," added Masterman.
The company is taking steps to lower the water level and regain access to the higher-grade ore and these steps will create a permanent solution covering the life of the mine, said the company.
Processing will continue using a stockpile of mid and lower level grade ore on-site, and the amount of concentrate expected to be produced in Q1 and Q2 2021 will be ahead of any previously reported quarter, said W Resources.
La Parilla has an Australasian Joint Ore Reserves Committee compliant resources total 49 million tonnes at a grade of 998 parts per million tungsten trioxide. and JORC compliant reserves of 29.8mt at a diluted grade of 931ppm WO3.
