Dugald River zinc project likely to come in 8% under budget – MMG

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Metals miner MMG on Thursday reported that its Dugald River zinc project, in Queensland, is likely to come in under budget.

The company told shareholders that total capital costs to completion were now expected to be between $550-million to $570-million, compared with a previous guidance of between $600-million and $620-million.

At the end of the September quarter, the mine was 89% complete, and was on target to achieve its first concentrate production by the end of 2017.

At full production, the mine is expected to produce 170 000 t/y of zinc in concentrate, as well as by-products, with an estimated mine life of 25 years.

MMG said it had signed an offtake agreement with Minmetals North-Europe for 10 000 t of zinc product from the Dugald River operation, with the offtake agreement valued at about $12-million.

Meanwhile, MMG on Thursday announced a mixed bag of results for the three months ended September, with copper cathode and zinc production both down, while copper-in-concentrate production and lead production were up compared with the second quarter.

Copper cathode production was down 6% on the previous quarter, to 33 416 t, while copper production was up 7%, to 114 472 t. Zinc production for the third quarter was down 6% on the second quarter, to 17 230 t, while lead production increased by 5%, to 6 469 t.

Molybdenum production reached 478 t during the three months under review.

MMG reported a record quarter at its Las Bambas operation, in Peru, which accounted for 114 169 t of the company’s copper-in-concentrate production, as well as at the Kinsevere operation, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which delivered 20 758 t of copper cathode.