Korea Zinc Company to expand Australian Zinc Refinery to increase Zinc production to 270000 tons

SMM12, March 10-Zinc production in Australia will increase, investing millions of dollars to expand zinc smelters in northern Queensland. South Korean zinc, which owns a zinc refinery outside Townsville, will spend $300m on Sun Metals Corporation, its Australian subsidiary. The expansion is expected to increase production at its zinc smelter from about 225000 tons to 270000 tons a year.

In addition, Australia's Queensland policy is also very friendly to mining companies. Earlier, in November, the Queensland government said it would announce proposed resource rules requiring miners to pay an "insurance fund" to remedy old mines. If enacted, the law would have an impact on companies such as BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Glencore, all of which operate in mineral-rich Queensland.

The Queensland government says the new rules will be the most significant change in the state's mining recovery framework in nearly two decades. "I believe this legislation will strike the right balance between the environment and the resources sector, while ensuring that resource companies, rather than taxpayers, pay for the rehabilitation of failed mines or stranded assets," Deputy Prime Minister Jackie Trader said in a statement. "all miners [will] have to pay basically the cost of the insurance fund to ensure the recovery of the mine," she told local radio. " Queensland is one of the world's largest exporters of coal by sea and one of the five largest producers of zinc, lead and bauxite (made of aluminum and silver) in the world. Amendments to the regulations were first proposed in October 2017 and will be submitted to Parliament for further discussion next week.

Andrew Mackenzie, chief executive of BHP Billiton (BHP Billiton), the world's top mining company, said the company had held long-term discussions with state governments on the issue.

Queensland's resources department has added more than $55 billion to the state's bottom line and provided more than $4 billion in mining royalties, according to the Queensland Resources Council.

Shane Goodwin, head of New Century Resources Australia, said the bill, which supports the industry and small miners, is repairing what used to be the world's largest zinc mine through waste reprocessing and export. The amendment being considered by the state allows some miners to issue insurance bonds instead of large amounts of cash holdings, which is particularly painful for small and medium-sized enterprises in capital-intensive industries. "from our point of view, this new legislation is very useful and beneficial for the industry as a whole," Goodwin stressed.

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