Century Zinc Port Loading Remains Halted due to Storm

SYDNEY, Jan. 27 -- Loading of ships at Australia's giant Century zinc mine remained suspended for a fourth day as a severe storm threatened to strengthen in Australia's tropical north region, the mine's owner MMG said.

The company is currently stockpiling zinc concentrate at the mine 304 kilometres (190 miles) from the port while loading is suspended, a spokeswoman for MMG, the Australian unit of China's Minmetals said on Wednesday.

The Century zinc mine, the world's second largest producer of the metal, stopped loading ships at the port of Karumba on Sunday as Cyclone Olga ripped across the Gulf of Carpenteria.

Olga quickly lost much of its punch but was now intensifying and winds are expected to reach low level cyclone speeds of up to 110 kilometre per hour by late Thursday, the Bureau of Meteorology said.

MMG normally barges zinc concentrate from the mine's port, in the country's tropical north, to ships waiting in deeper water offshore. When cyclones threaten, the barges are kept in port until the weather improves.

The Century mine produces about 500,000 tonnes of zinc, a third of Australia's total production, from 1 million tonnes of concentrate annually.