News
Mid-Tennesse mine complex has new owner
Mid-Tennessee Zinc Corp (“MTZ”) mine complex, which belonged to Resource Acquisition Corporation ("SRA"), was acquired by Nyrstar SA/NV for about US$ 10 mln. Nyrstar owns the smelter and refinery Clarksville, TN, where the MTZ concentrate should have been processed. Germanium ad Gallium-containing residue should have been returned to SRA, which planned to recover 80-90 mt of these metals per year. Start-up of the pilot plant for recovery of Germanium and Gallium was planned for QI 2009. Over a period of 18 months, SRA invested about $150m in a major capital program that revived the former zinc and germanium complex, which had a 28 year history of continuous operation from 1975 to 2003. SRA restarted production at MTZ in April 2008. However, cash costs per pound of payable zinc were subsequently well above the prevailing commodity prices. Due to both this and the credit market environment, the project was declared uneconomic. In October, SRA therefore said that it was initiating a temporary care and maintenance program at MTZ to keep the mining assets in ready condition while it pursued funding and strategic alternatives towards a restructuring to enable reinstating the project when prices improved. In mid-January SRA and its MTZ subsidiary filed for protection in the US Bankruptcy Court.
Nyrstar intends to continue the care and maintenance program of the MTZ complex for the near future, but will review opportunities to recommence operations “as soon as commercially feasible”. The firm adds that, once operations are restarted, the MTZ complex will continue to be a key source of zinc concentrate for its smelter in Cumberland Heights, Clarksville (which was originally built to treat concentrate from the MTZ complex), providing close to 50% of its requirements.
“Once operational, the acquisition of the mine complex provides us with an opportunity to capture a number of important synergies that should support a long-term sustainable future for Clarksville, in addition to capturing the value contained in the germanium- and gallium-rich concentrate,” says Nyrstar’s CEO Roland Junck.
Nyrstar intends to continue the care and maintenance program of the MTZ complex for the near future, but will review opportunities to recommence operations “as soon as commercially feasible”. The firm adds that, once operations are restarted, the MTZ complex will continue to be a key source of zinc concentrate for its smelter in Cumberland Heights, Clarksville (which was originally built to treat concentrate from the MTZ complex), providing close to 50% of its requirements.
“Once operational, the acquisition of the mine complex provides us with an opportunity to capture a number of important synergies that should support a long-term sustainable future for Clarksville, in addition to capturing the value contained in the germanium- and gallium-rich concentrate,” says Nyrstar’s CEO Roland Junck.
