New Century Resources says the restart of operations at the Century zinc mine in Queensland’s lower Gulf region is now imminent, with strong progress in the final refurbishment and commissioning process during July.
In an announcement to the ASX today, the company said mining, processing and port operations teams were in place, with site activities now moved from day shift only to a 24/7 schedule.
Key developments during July:
o Mining: Mechanical installation complete, dry commissioning nearing completion
o Processing Plant: Full plant sequence testing on water continuing
o Pipeline: Fully commissioned for operations
o Port/Ship: Dredging complete, MV Wunma run up of major systems completed
o Marketing: 2018 zinc concentrate shipping schedule established with offtakers
o Cultural Heritage: Removal of legacy cyclone mooring buoy
The company said the Century restart remained on track for first production in August 2018.
New Century Resources has upgraded infrastructure including a large-scale multi-train flotation plant, 700-person camp, private airport, mining fleet, grid power connection, 304km slurry pipeline and port facility to bring the zinc operation into production.
The company is initially looking to reprocess tailings as it restarts operations at the former MMG zinc mine, with an expected start-up cost of $62.5 million. Once in production, the company plans to invest a further $63 million over a 15-month period to ramp up to 15Mtpa.
