{"id":428,"date":"2021-04-29T01:10:41","date_gmt":"2021-04-29T01:10:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/miningproductsmagazine.com\/?p=428"},"modified":"2021-04-29T01:10:41","modified_gmt":"2021-04-29T01:10:41","slug":"ceo-qa-almonty-industries-lewis-black","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/northamericanmining.com\/index.php\/2021\/04\/29\/ceo-qa-almonty-industries-lewis-black\/","title":{"rendered":"CEO Q&A: Almonty Industries\u2019 Lewis Black"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

North American Mining Discusses The Future Of Mining, The Outlook For Tungsten And More With Almonty\u2019s Lewis Black. Is U.S. Growth Part Of The Company\u2019s Future?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By J. Weiss<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Lewis Black<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

Many mining operators, no matter their respective place in the world, are working hard to reinvent, reimagine and retool \u2013 and for a number of reasons. Some are putting a new eye toward technology, others are evaluating environmental and sustainability efforts, and others still are formulating an again-refreshed outlook on health and safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To place that focus across many areas of business, while still maintaining a strong presence in one\u2019s commodity, region and in the minds of the industry \u2013 it not quite as common.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

North American Mining<\/em> recently talked to Canadian-based Almonty Industries CEO Lewis on a number of issues, including the company\u2019s newly expanded environmental, social and governance (ESG) program. He also responds to questions about the global operator\u2019s position on a potential future in North America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your group is very forward-thinking when it comes to the future of mining. What elements do you feel will be key to mining\u2019s success in the future?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through the total embrace of ESG as well as education to the populace of any country that has mines \u2013 sharing how mines are now nothing like what they used to be. They can have a very low impact environmentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, they also bring a great deal of benefits to what is normally a more isolated or rural area like economic growth. But most importantly are new mines, which are the only ones that can be built when you follow ESG programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You have talked a lot about clean energy mining and its role in the industry as well. Can you share why this is so important to Almonty, and why it needs to be important to your contemporaries?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, I don\u2019t think mining should be treated any differently than any other industrial unit. I think every industrial complex in countries that require stringent ESG should seek out more sustainable and renewable forms of energy. I don\u2019t think mining should be treated any differently, especially given technology now being in such a place where you can no longer say, \u2018Well, you know, it doesn\u2019t work.\u2019 Actually, they\u2019re only a heartbeat away from giving you an underground electric unit that runs on batteries that will last the shift, and that\u2019s really the key \u2013 lasting the whole shift on one battery pack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s important because ultimately, consumers are at the end of the supply chain. It\u2019s all about the carbon footprint and consumers are looking for all of their suppliers to make contributions towards negating that carbon footprint. I believe operators have to really now be much more cognizant of how to join the sustainable party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company recently expanded its ESG program. Can you elaborate on the details?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our Portuguese project is 126 years old and is a ripe candidate to be dragged into the 21st century, be it rather slowly. Because it is an aging mine, you don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to drop off if you drag it too quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, we\u2019ve just started the construction of a solar farm for the benefit of the mine, which will produce roughly 22% of the energy required at the mine. This is really a pilot plant so we can really understand the reliability of this program before embracing it on a greater scale. We have the advantage of being in southern Europe where there is a lot of sunshine, and more importantly, we\u2019re also in a more mountainous area where there is wind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, government will support these initiatives, which is very helpful not just financially, but also through permitting. That being said, going slowly in Portugal since this mine was built so long ago is important to evaluate the infrastructures in place that may be a little fragile to change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is something we are very much embracing. And as for our Korea mine, it\u2019s slightly different. We\u2019re starting with a blank piece of paper, so we\u2019ve been able to incorporate all kinds of ESP programs. Ultimately, with five generations of knowledge in Portugal, this has to be moved, or at least shared in Korea. We\u2019re already running internships, graduate programs and a whole series of new direction that we haven\u2019t done previously.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"\"
Los Santos Mine.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

Where do you see Almonty in 10 years as a company as it relates to your core material focus? How central is ore economics to that?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 10 years, we\u2019ll still maintain our position as the best tungsten operational team outside of China, and one of the best in the world. Our focus is not going to move away from what we know, which is tungsten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the next 10 years, we will solidify our position and our growth will continue to increase output out of Korea. We have 70-plus years of reserves and our grade is 3.5 times the average grade of a tungsten mine in a jurisdiction that\u2019s not only supportive, but also a voracious consumer of what we produce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are going to stay with what we know \u2013 how to produce strategic metals such as tungsten to be cost competitive with China, who currently accounts for 80% of the world\u2019s production of tungsten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can you talk about your current assets, and what is to come? Aside from your HQ presence, will you have more assets of any kind in North America in the short- or long-term future?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We currently have two sites in Spain and one in Portugal. Our Portugal site has been in operation for 126 years. One of our Spanish sites was closed earlier last year under emergency laws where the government closed all companies, so we made the decision that it would then be turned over to process tailings \u2013 a program that\u2019s ongoing currently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We look to replace our Los Santos, Spain, project with our Valtreixal project where we\u2019ll transplant the plant that we have at Los Santos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The South Korean Project Sangdong is very different. This is considered internationally, by our industry, the world\u2019s largest with the highest grade and the largest reserves. It\u2019s very much been coveted by many over the years, and we were very fortunate to acquire it in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is growth potential in Korea that\u2019s quite extraordinary as it has a vast tungsten deposit for more than 70 years. In terms of North America, 99% of our material goes to North America and we\u2019re always on the lookout for more opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are a Canadian company with a large U.S. shareholder block of about 49% and would like to identify a tungsten project within the United States that we felt could provide long-term supply solutions to many of our U.S. manufacturing consumers. We\u2019re constantly on the lookout while fully understanding that these things take time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We don\u2019t expect, and even hope, that no loosening of environmental regulations come about because we believe those regulations are very important. Tungsten is a very scarce metal compared to the plenty of options for rare earths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot of the tungsten assets in the United States ran out back in the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s, but that\u2019s not to say we\u2019re not constantly reviewing all projects around the world \u2013 including being able to operate in the United States.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

North American Mining Discusses The Future Of Mining, The Outlook For Tungsten And More With Almonty\u2019s Lewis Black. Is U.S. Growth Part Of The Company\u2019s Future? By J. Weiss<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":336,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[253,255,254,256],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-almonty-industries","tag-ceo-qa","tag-lewis-black","tag-los-santos-mine"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t