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eURoPe
Results from the 26-hole programme will form the basis of an
updated resource at Santa Comba, due for release in April

burden. Turner sees no such obsta- located] is generally pro-mining and we HC Starck’s offtake agreement comes
cles at Rafaella. are fortunate that there are no issues or with pre-approved German Government
“The reputation Spain has devel- competing land uses, even from agricul- project credit funding however Turner
oped [for red tape] is off the back ture. We have had the Galicia Depart- said the potential capex – Rafaella be-
of Berkeley [Energia Ltd] and High- ment of Mines and the local mayor out to lieves start-up could cost around $10 mil-
field [Resources Ltd]. I worked for site and they are both supportive,” Turner lion – is small enough to warrant equity
Berkeley and it is clearly restricted said. “The local town of Santa Comba is funding.
because it is uranium. Highfield is a keen to see employment. And, we’ve had “For that figure it is more logical to dip
bulk mining scenario and because it a lot of positive local press coverage. into the equity market and we also have
straddles two provinces, approvals There are always groups which could Transamine as the largest shareholder.
had to go through Madrid which can jump up and down, but we haven’t had They do fund development so it there is
be difficult. any yet.” no reason to think they wouldn’t be in-
“Our existing permits cover under- With the regulator and local govern- volved here. It should be straightforward
ground mining and the processing ment seemingly onside, Rafaella is turn- financing.”
plant and we have a partial permit ing its attention to convincing investors it If the company is to successfully entice
over the open pit – from the quarry can bring Santa Comba into production. investors, it will have to buck recent mar-
operations,” he said. “We will have Turner said the market response since ket trends. The last ASX-listed company
to submit a mine plan to authorities, the acquisition had been positive. to build a tungsten mine in Europe – Wolf
once the feasibility study is com- “There has been a very good investor re- Minerals Ltd – struggled with operational
pleted.” action to the story,” he said. “We have met and regulatory issues as well as a down-
Spain’s federal structure also al- with several interested parties who indicat- turn in tungsten prices at its Drakelands
lows for individual regions to de- ed they were watching the story and waiting project in the UK before closing the mine
velop their own pro-mining policies, for it to get a bit further along the develop- in 2018.
giving Rafaella a distinct advantage. ment path. Everyone says the share price is Turner said he did not expect Rafaella
“Galicia [where Santa Comba is undervalued given the asset. to encounter the same problems.
“This is a very different project to
Rafaella ready for resource Hemerdon [Drakelands],” he said. “We
are much higher grade and Wolf had re-
strictions around when it could operate
which made it difficult to get the costs
down. The process plant design and
met work also had holes in them and
they were struggling under a mountain
of debt.
“We have been to the UK to look at
funding options and a lot of funds who
had invested in Wolf are still interested in
us. The Australian funds are of the same
opinion.”
Driving that enthusiasm is a growing
confidence around the tungsten mar-
ket. Prices for APT ferrotungsten grew
steadily last year and hit $US270/mtu in
January. The price has not breached the
$US260/mtu mark since it collapsed in
2014.
The rise is being driven by steady de-
mand and curtailed production in China,
responsible for 80% of global supply.
“China is continuing to close produc-
tion and that will increase pressure on
supply,” Turner said. “In 12 months, we
believe it will be around $US300/mtu. But
even at today’s prices Santa Comba still
makes money.”

– Dominic Piper

Rafaella has three drill rigs in
operation on its Santa Comba
tungsten project in northern Spain

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