PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Base metals miner New Century Resources has reached a production milestone at its namesake project in Queensland, delivering its 500 000th tonne of zinc concentrate since production restarted in late 2018.
“The milestone of producing 500 000 t of zinc concentrate is a significant achievement for the company and a testament to the efforts of our team on site, as well as our strong culture and partnerships with stakeholders throughout the region,” said MD Patrick Walta.
“In addition, New Century’s hedging programme has successfully locked in the current buoyant market conditions for the remainder of the financial year, while also providing full exposure to further zinc price improvement.”
New Century on Monday also announced that it had executed a zinc price hedging programme for the remainder of the 2021 financial year, with the company securing put contracts guarantee at a floor price of $1.20/lb, for all of the sales in the March quarter, and 50% of the sales in the June quarter.
The floor price guarantee captures strong tailwinds within the industry, said Walta, with New Century expecting to deliver material growth in its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for the December quarter.
“The company sees strong potential for zinc price upside, given the continued demand from growth within China and the likely near term improved demand around the world as infrastructure-focused government stimulus packages are rolled out. This demand is in contrast to continued global supply challenges, with traditional underground miners facing additional operational difficulties in improving production while also implementing social distancing and Covid-19 mitigation practices.”