New Century has delivered half a million tonnes of zinc concentrate since operations at the Century Mine restarted in August 2018.
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The company told the ASX this week it had hit the major production milestone, with New Century delivering its 500,000th tonne of zinc concentrate
New Century Resources Managing Director Patrick Walta said the milestone was a significant achievement and testament to the efforts of the on-site team and its strong culture and partnerships with stakeholders throughout the region.
New Century also announced a zinc price hedging program for the remainder of the financial year with the company securing put contracts to guarantee a floor price of US$1.20/lb (US$2,645/t) for 100% of sales in the March '21 quarter and 50% of sales in the June '21 quarter.
Mr Walta said the put contracts eliminated downside price risk while also providing full upside exposure to zinc prices above US$1.20/lb with the December '20 quarter average zinc price up 12% quarter-on-quarter
"New Century's hedging program has successfully locked in the current buoyant market conditions for the remainder of the financial year, while also providing full exposure to further zinc price improvement," he said.
"The Company sees strong potential for zinc price upside, given the continued demand from growth within China and the likely near-term improved demand around the world as infrastructure-focused government stimulus packages are rolled out."
Mr Walta said this demand was in contrast to continued global supply challenges, with traditional underground miners facing additional operational difficulties in improving production while also implementing social distancing and Covid-19 mitigation practices.
The company expects a material increase in December 2020 quarter adjusted earnings.
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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.
