London 14/12/2015 - Chinese-Australian metals producers Minerals and Metals Group (MMG) has shipped the final tonnages of zinc concentrate from the Century mine, it said
The final parcel, now on route to a customer in Asia, was loaded on December 7, MMG said on Monday, marking the end of stocks accumulated since the mine's closure earlier in the fourth quarter of this year.
During its 16-year mine life, Century was the largest zinc mine in the world and Australia's biggest open-pit operation.
The final shipment comes as zinc treatment charges - fees paid to smelters for the costs of processing concentrate into metal - are moving lower, indicating that the market is tightening and perhaps moving towards a deficit.
Spot zinc TCs were last at $170-180 per tonne, down from as high as $185-195 in October.
Concentrate from Century was relied on by many smelters in the industry due to its clean quality and high zinc content.
"More than 13 million tonnes of zinc concentrate has been transported [since production began in 1999]," MMG COO Marcelo Bastos said.
During its final of full production Century produced 465,696 tonnes of zinc metal in concentrate as well as 64,426 tonnes of lead in concentrate.
Lead concentrate from Century will continue to be shipped from MMG's port facility in Queensland, the company said.
The closure of Century has long been a factor in fluctuating zinc prices. Prices rose in the middle of last year, for example, in part due to the presumption that the mine would close by 2015 before falling when it became apparent operations would continue until the end of this year.
(Editing by Mark Shaw)