Name: Century mine.

Location: Century mine is located at Lawn Hill, 250 km north-west of Mount Isa, in the lower Gulf of Carpentaria, in Queensland, Australia.

Controlling Company: MMG.

Brief History: Openpit production at the Century mine started in 1999.

During its 16 years of operation, the mine has produced and processed zinc and lead concentrates at Lawn Hill, with the product transferred in slurry form using a 304 km underground pipeline to Century’s port facility, in Karumba, for shipping to smelters in Australia, Europe and Asia.

Production, processing, dewatering and shipping will cease at Century in 2015, consistent with the estimated life-of-mine when processing began in 1999.

Brief Description: Century comprises two sites in the lower Gulf region of Queensland – the mine at Lawn Hill and the associated dewatering and shiploading facilities at the Karumba port, which are connected by a 300 km slurry pipeline.

Products: Zinc and lead concentrate.

Geology/Mineralisation: The deposit is hosted within the Lawn Hill formation, a middle Proterozoic sequence of shale, siltstone and sandstone overlain by younger Cambrian limestone.

Structurally, the deposit is located within the Page Creek syncline and is terminated to the east by Cambrian limestone and faults associated with the Termite Range fault. The Magazine Hill and Nikki faults define the southern and northern boundaries respectively.

The western boundary is truncated by Cambrian limestone and by the present-day surface at the Discovery Hill gossan.

The mineralisation is divided into northern and southern blocks by the north-dipping normal Pandora’s fault.

Mineralisation in the deposit is strata bound and confined by stratigraphy, which is well understood and well defined throughout the deposit.

Reserves: Proven and probable reserves as at June 30, 2014, were estimated at 7.9-million tonnes, grading 8.2% zinc, 1.6% lead and 40 g/t of silver.

Resources: Mineral resources as at June 30, 2014, were estimated at 12.8-million tonnes.

Mining Method: Openpit mining, with conventional grinding and flotation.

Major Infrastructure and Equipment: Mining equipment includes the mobile mining fleet, comprising Komatsu dump trucks, shovels, excavators, loaders, production drill rigs, four water trucks, graders, dozers and a light vehicle fleet. Equipment for geological modelling includes radar and microseismic array.

The operational infrastructure consists of a large openpit mine, a crusher and a concentrator, as well as a pipeline to the port facilities.

Support infrastructure includes maintenance workshops, electricity supply, water, accommodation, communications and a site airport.

Prospects: MMG continues to study the feasibility of growth options that could use Century’s extensive infrastructure at Lawn Hill and Karumba. These studies include investigations into alternative feed sources for the Century processing plant and further near-mine exploration, as well as the potential retreatment of material from the tailings dam.

Century’s infrastructure at Lawn Hill and Karumba, including the pipeline, will be maintained in a state of operational readiness to enable MMG to initiate these growth options, should they become feasible.

Contact Person: Senior communications adviser Martin Powley.

Contact Details:
MMG,
tel +61 7 4769 5395,
email martin.powley@mmg.com, and
website http://www.mmg.com.