Annastacia Palaszczuk.
The Palaszczuk Government will supercharge the ramp up of the $150 million Century Zinc Mine after negotiating a royalty deferral agreement with miner New Century Resources.
Zinc-based batteries are being considered and trialled for electric vehicles (EVs).
It’s the first Royalty Deferral and Repayment Agreement to be negotiated under the Resources Regional Development Framework (RRDF) and will provide a precedent for similar arrangements in the future, the agreement an important step in the Government’s commitment to open up the North West Minerals Province, premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says.
“We know the North West Minerals Province is rich in minerals like copper, cobalt, zinc and gold, as well as potential deposits of rare earth minerals that will play an increasing role in renewable electricity generation and battery technology,” she says.
“We want to see new projects in the North West Minerals Province, but also new technologies that can extract more value from former projects like this.”
New Century is recommissioning the existing infrastructure and ramping up operations at the Century Zinc Mine to reprocess the vast zinc and silver tailings resource; and seeking to restart conventional mining of known in-situ resources to produce zinc and lead concentrates, further increasing the project’s economic life.
The reinvigoration of the Century Mine has the additional benefit of continuing the operation of a 304km slurry pipeline between the mine site and Karumba, and the continued dredging of the Port of Karumba, making the port available for other commercial users.
Mines minister Dr Anthony Lynham says New Century’s investment in North West Queensland underlines the region’s potential for Queensland’s future.
“This year’s budget added an additional $110 million on top of $39 million already invested in supporting mining in the North West Minerals Province,” he says.
“While New Century is using its own dedicated slurry pipeline to and port facility at Karumba, we’re reducing freight costs for users on the Mount Isa to Townsville rail line and contributing towards the construction and operation of containerised freight loading and unloading facilities at the Port of Townsville.”
New Century managing director Patrick Walta says the team’s achievements have set the benchmark in demonstrating the potential for economic mine rehabilitation in Australia.
