New Century Resources has said zinc metal output increased at New Century Mine by 28% during the September quarter after a major upgrade.
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In their quarterly statement released Wednesday, New Century said they produced 26,171 tonnes of zinc metal in 53,500 tonnes of concentrate grading 49.0% zinc compared to 20,450t zinc metal in 42,500t of concentrate at 48.1% zinc during the March quarter.
New Century said their focus for the quarter was on delivery of the upgraded cleaner circuit within the processing plant, removing bottlenecks for continued recovery improvement and increasing metal production.
The upgrade was delivered on schedule and budget in mid-August, providing a big improvement in operational performance for the second half of the September quarter.
The company said the improvements due to this upgrade were particularly evident in the performance during the month of September, which delivered 10,013t of zinc metal at an average recovery of 52% zinc.
New Century said operational consistency had also significantly improved since the implementation of the cleaner circuit upgrade with greater than 50% zinc recovery now achieved for over 30 consecutive days.
"Stability is expected to continue as the ramp up progresses, allowing for the continued optimisation of all production parameters," the company said.
"Stable operation has been achieved in hydraulic mining, at a rate above 8Mpta during the month of September. This stability has continued into October and the mining rate is now being progressively increased to 9Mtpa over the course of the December quarter."
New Century is now planning its 12Mtpa expansion stage which will involve additional scavenger flotation capacity online in November and a fourth mining cannon by March 2020.
New Century also expects to spend nine million dollars in capital expenditure this financial year "predominantly associated with the five yearly survey of the Company's transhipment vessel, the MV Wunma, and the annual dredging of the Norman River".
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Derek Barry
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
