Minerals explorer New Century Resources has captured the final slice of funding it needs to restart its Century Zinc Mine.
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The company fronted investors this week seeking a $40 million equity injection to fund capital requirements to to restart production as one of the top 10 zinc operations on earth.
The restart is well advanced, with an expected initial processing capacity of 8 million tonnes per annum, but New Century plans to accelerate the mine's ramp up to 15 million tonnes per annum.
An independent technical review by SRK Consulting released in March but dated December 2017 found the mine, located 250km north west of Mount Isa, indicated an operational restart as a 500,000 tonnes a year zinc concentrate producer with free cash flow of A$1.76 billion over an initial six year mine life from the Century Tailings Deposit.
The study said the mine was low risk though the maximum mining rate proposed by contractor Sedgman was optimistic and recommended potential investors test the sensitivity with a range of 13 to Mtpa at its peak.
“Nonetheless the proposed hydraulic mining method is conventional and does not present a critical operational risk,” the report said.
“The mining and slurry delivery cost of $2.58t of tailings feed benchmarks well with similar projects and is based on quotations from a specialised contractor.”
Sedgman has proposed a two-phased approach to mine the Century Tailings Deposit using hydraulic monitors directing re-slurried tailings to sumps where it is pumped to the existing process plant.
SRK said the biggest risk with the Century tailings retreatment project was the ability to consistently deliver a a saleable concentrate.
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New Century is also conducting an expansion feasibility study to assess the potential of in-situ resources to extend the life of the operation beyond the tailings deposit.
“New Century is well positioned for the near-term evolution from mine developer to a globally significant zinc producer,” the company said in an ASX announcement.
