PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Base metals miner New Century Resources is hoping that an organisational review, which was undertaken during the December quarter, will realise benefits from the March quarter onwards.

The company on Tuesday said that the organisational review was aimed to optimise the operational performance at the Century mine and to reduce unit production costs, with the review resulting in a rationalisation of corporate and operational staffing requirements.

A cost of A$0.8-million is associated with the review.

Meanwhile, MD Robert Cooper said on Tuesday that a strategic review of the company was also conducted during the quarter, which reaffirmed the company’s aim to become Australia’s next midtier base metal producer.

The company’s strategy for 2023 and beyond is now focused on maximising the value from its Queensland assets, increasing the value of these operations by realising life extensions, investing in the restart of the Mt Lyell copper mine, and accelerating growth through external opportunities.

“Investment in the exceptional growth projects within the company portfolio has been enabled by strong operational cash flow generation and cost control in a highly inflationary environment,” Cooper said.

“The restart of the Mt Lyell copper mine has the potential to be transformational for the company. During the December quarter we undertook a final review of several opportunities identified to reaffirm the robustness of the prefeasibility study (PFS) outcomes. This culminated in the release of the PFS in January 2023 which has demonstrated a highly attractive, near-term restart opportunity with strong financial outcomes.

The robust economic profile demonstrated by the PFS includes a pre-tax net present value of A$560-million, internal rate of return of 22% and life-of-mine net cash flow of more than A$1-billion. The estimated pre-production capital investment requirement is A$279-million, leveraging off existing infrastructure, with a maximum cash draw of A$360-million.

The PFS is based on an initial mine life of 25 years, with the project producing 555 000 t of copper and 320 000 oz of gold in concentrate.  The averageyearly production over the first ten years is expected to reach 27 000 t of copper and 16 000 oz of gold.

“This potential diversification of the company into complementary products and the restart of an operation within a tier-1 Australian mining jurisdiction positions New Century to benefit from the decarbonisation mega-trend through this decade and beyond, as we supply the necessary commodities required for the wiring of solar panels, wind turbines and the other products required to meet global decarbonisation efforts,” said Cooper.

“Further to this, during the quarter the Tasmanian government provided the final A$2.3-million instalment of a A$9.5-million grant to assist Copper Mines of Tasmania in restarting the historic Mt Lyell copper and gold mine. The funds will be directed towards risk mitigation projects, including refurbishment of the North Lyell tunnel to maintain access to dewatering lines, decommissioning the West Queen water dams, and installing a secondary high voltage (11 kV) cable in the shaft as a contingency.”

During the three months to December, the Century operation produced 63 124 t of concentrate containing 29 276 t of zinc, down from the record 35 257 t of zinc produced in the previous quarter.

C1 costs for the quarter reached $0.94/lb and all-in sustaining costs reached $1.15/lb, compared with the C1 cost of $0.88/lb and the all-in sustaining cost of $1.06/lb in the previous quarter.