Australia’s New Century out to prove a point on zinc output
The producer expects the project will prove it is possible to rehabilitate mine sites for profit
Melbourne — Australia’s New Century Resources is on track to turn a giant tailings dam into the world’s fifth-biggest source of zinc as it defies doubters to make its first shipment in August, said Patrick Walta, the mineral processor’s MD. New Century is processing the tailings, or the residue left over from previously mined ore, at the Century mine, previously the world’s largest zinc mine. The firm expects the project will prove it is possible to rehabilitate mine sites for profit in an industry where remediation has been seen only as a cost. "We want to be the Australian premier mine rehabilitation company," said Walta, who first started looking at economic mine rehabilitation with his firm Raging Bull a decade ago. "For us, Century is great. It puts us on the map," he said in an interview on Tuesday.
New Century shot into view in 2017 when its former incarnation, Century Bull, secured the tailings rights to the mine in the western part of Australia’s Queensland state that...
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