LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Strategic Minerals reported a sharp rebound in production and sales from its Cobre magnetite operation in New Mexico on Friday, with revenue growth supporting accelerated development work at its Redmoor tungsten, tin and copper project in Cornwall.
The AIM-traded company said ore sales at Cobre rose 42.4% quarter-on-quarter to 16,098 tonnes in the three months ended 30 September, generating revenue of $1.08m, up 31.9% from the prior quarter.

It said the increase followed a recovery in operations after regional wildfires disrupted output earlier in the year.

Cash at quarter-end stood at $0.83m, compared with $1.59m at 30 June.

At Redmoor, drilling and analytical results continued to reinforce the project's status as the highest-grade undeveloped tungsten resource in Europe and one of the highest-grade deposits globally.

All six holes completed to date have intercepted the sheeted vein system, including drillhole CRD033, which returned "exceptionally high" tungsten grades and multiple stacked zones of mineralisation.

The hole also identified new potentially economic zones expected to contribute to an updated mineral resource estimate.

Strategic Minerals said a second drill rig had been mobilised to accelerate the programme, with metallurgical and processing test work under way to refine recovery assumptions for the forthcoming resource update.

"Sales at Cobre have bounced back over the past quarter, making up for downtime as a result of regional wildfires in the first half of the year," said executive director Mark Burnett.

"This cash generative subsidiary is sustaining the Group's activities, in particular at Cornwall Resources where drilling and analysis is reinforcing the exceptional quality of the Redmoor Tungsten Tin Copper Project."

He added that investor engagement had been strong, noting more than 20 meetings with institutional and high-net-worth investors over the past two weeks and "an extremely well attended and engaging retail investor presentation".

"The success of the programme is generating significant interest in the market," Burnett said.

"As China tightens its grip on its own critical minerals, we have right here in the UK an opportunity to develop a world-class polymetallic tungsten resource."

At 1117 BST, shares in Strategic Minerals were up 16.28% at 1p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.

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