London 03/10/2016 - Nrystar has lowered its production guidance for 2016 due to a number of unplanned, one-off production outages and operational issues in the third quarter of 2016.
As such its third quarter operational and financial performance will be impacted, it said on Monday.
Full year zinc production guidance is now expected to be at the low end of the guidance range of 1 to 1.1 million tonnes.
The mining segment, currently in the process of being divested, also experienced some production issues during this period, amounting to approximately 4,000 tonnes of lost zinc in concentrate production
Nyrstar has revised down its 2016 full year zinc in concentrate production to 90,000 - 110,000 tonnes from 130,000 - 160,000 tonnes.
"It is likely this guidance will be further impacted by the mines divestment process currently underway with more divestments expected to be announced before the year-end," it said.
Adding to the disruptions was news last week that the Port Pirie lead refinery suffered from a storm related electricity failure in the state of South Australia which caused an outage of the entire plant - it is expected to be down for six-10 days.
"Given the impact of these unplanned production outages that have now predominantly been corrected, revising the full year guidance is a prudent measure," Bill Scotting, CEO said.
"We remain focused on our cash flow improving strategic priorities for the remainder of 2016 and into 2017 with the continued advancement of the mining divestment, delivering on the Port Pirie Redevelopment with its substantial forecast earnings uplift, and making continued operational improvements and cost savings to benefit from the strengthening of zinc market fundamentals," he added.
The third quarter interim results are scheduled for release on November 2.
In other company news, John Galassini, senior vice president of mining is leaving Nyrstar to pursue other opportunities.
The decision was attributed to the progress of the mining divestment process and the subsequent reduced management requirements in the mining segment.
"I would like to thank John for his contribution to the company and the Nyrstar management committee over the past year as we have restructured and successfully reduced the negative cash flow in the mining business," Scotting said.
Galassini became the senior vice president of Nrystar in December 2015 to "drive the necessary turnaround of its global mining operations", the company said at the time.
The mining leadership team will now report to Scotting while the mining divestment process progresses in line with company's strategy.