Australian base metal development company New Century Resources has started the tailings flotation activities required to produce rougher zinc concentrate at its mine in Queensland.
According to the company, the first production of concentrate from the project shows the initial proof-of-concept for large-scale slurry flotation of ore through its existing processing facilities.
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Commenting on the start of operations, New Century managing director Patrick Walta said: “It is a fantastic achievement by the New Century team and our business partners to deliver the restart of operations at Century both on time and budget.
“We are now focused on the next phase of Century development, ramping up operations to become one of the world’s top zinc producers.”
The company has also seen progress in its hydraulic mining operations, which are expected to offer consistent slurry feed quality for flotation of tailings to occur within the Century Processing Plant.
It is also planning to increase the annual production at Century to 264,000t of zinc and 3Moz of silver over an initial mine life of 6.3 years.
In addition, New Century noted that in-situ mineral resources offers the potential for mine life extension and has engaged in active exploration programmes across the 1,800km² tenement package.
The company is also upgrading its existing 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 in a move to restart the production at the mine.
