Minmetal's MMG to invest $158 mln in Dugald River zinc project
Shanghai. December 14. INTERFAX-CHINA - Minerals Metal Group (MMG), an Australian miner owned by Chinese metals trader Minmetals Resources Ltd., plans to invest AUD 157 million ($158.31 million) in the preliminary phase of the Dugald River zinc project in Australia, the group's communications coordinator Kathleen Kawecki confirmed Dec. 14.
The investment, which was approved by MMG executives Dec. 12, will fund engineering and metallurgical testing work as well as long-lead equipment purchases, said Kawecki.
The project is still awaiting approval from environmental regulators and is scheduled to come on-stream around 2014. Kawecki declined to give further details of funding arrangements.
Minmetals Resources, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange-listed unit of state-owned metals trader China Minmetals Corp., acquired MMG for $1.85 billion in 2010.
The project will help plug the hole in MMG's zinc output after its existing 500,000-ton per year Century zinc mine in northwest Queensland - one of the largest in the world - reaches the end of its lifespan in 2015.
The Dugald River project, also located in northwest Queensland about 85 kilometers north of Mount Isa, is expected to produce about 200,000 tons of zinc concentrate per year - almost half of the annual output from the Century mine - over a lifespan of around 22 years.
The deposit contains recoverable reserves of 8.1 million tons of zinc, as well as 1.3 million tons of lead, 900,000 tons of copper, 102.4 million ounces of silver and 600,000 ounces of gold.
- GD
