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Tungsten West PLC on Wednesday provided an optimistic project update following a successful fundraise, allowing it to pay the balance outstanding for mineral rights from Hargreaves Services PLC. Tungsten West is focused on restarting production at the Hemerdon tungsten and tin mine in Devon, England, while Hargreaves Services is a Durham, England-based engineering firm. Shares in the former rose 3.2% to 37.66 pence late Wednesday morning in London, while Hargreaves Services traded 4.1% higher at 799.55p. Tungsten West bought the Hemerdon mine from Hargreaves Services back in 2019, with £8 million to be paid in annual £1 million installments. In February, Tungsten West announced that it had raised £41.4 million through a placing and subscription priced at 18 pence per share, which was more than 2.5 times oversubscribed. Following the fundraise, Hargreaves on Wednesday confirmed that it has received the £3.0 million outstanding from Tungsten West, and therefore, the full £8.0 million. This triggers the release of security held over a mineral lease. In parallel, Tungsten West has terminated an existing mining services agreement with Hargreaves Services, and has agreed to pay an additional £7.0 million compensation fee by May 15, 2027, which Hargreaves Services will book as a non-recurring gain in the year ending May, 31 2026. Hargreaves Services noted that it no longer expects to book £1.0 million in revenue from Tungsten West in financial 2027 and 2028, since the full balance on the mineral rights payment has been settled. Other than that, Hargreaves Services continues to trade in line with market expectations, for full-year revenue at £286.7 million and underlying pretax profit at £30.4 million. The engineering company added that it ‘is unaffected by the conflict in the Middle East’. Simon Hicks, chief operating officer at Hargreaves Services, said that the termination ‘is positive for both parties and results in a material cash inflow to the group effectively representing the acceleration and de-risking of several years of trading activity.’ Tungsten West noted: ‘We remain in discussion with Hargreaves regarding future opportunities.’ ‘With the termination of the existing mining services contract, the company is now advancing plans to self-perform mining operations.’ According to Tungsten West, ‘buoyant’ trading conditions are working in its favour. The company released a definitive feasibility study in August based on prices of $400 per tonne unit for tungsten and $32,500 a tonne for tin. As of March 31, tungsten prices have multiplied to about $2,995 per tonne unit while tin has risen to $46,000 a tonne, the firm estimated. It aims to restart the first phase of fines gravity processing in the third quarter of this year and aims to reach full plan commissioning in the first quarter of 2027. To that end, Tungsten West is progressing final appointments of sub-contractors, preparing earthworks for the mineral processing and mine waste facilities, alongside recruiting new leadership. The company has appointed Ron Day as chief operating officer, noting his experience in mining services at Sydney-listed Perenti Ltd. Tungsten West said that the last stage of due diligence is ‘well advanced’ on a debt package worth up to $85.0 million, which includes a first tranche of $25.0 million. As of March 31, which is the company’s financial year-end, cash reserves totalled £25.5 million, while tungsten sales revenue stood at £600,000. Tungsten West has secured a £22.3 million funding package for mining equipment from McHale Komatsu, which supplies the UK with Komatsu-branded equipment. It expects the first deliveries this month and mining fleet commissioning from August. ‘We are rapidly bringing Hemerdon back into production to address the ever-increasing supply gap for strategic tungsten concentrate,’ commented Chief Executive Jeff Court. ‘The project’s advancement is going well across all fronts, with first phase production targeted in Q3 2026. Looking further ahead, the company is in a strong position to commission the new build crushing, screening and ore sorting facilities in Q1 2027.’ Copyright 2026 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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