Sheffield secures zircon offtake for Thunderbird
Mineral sands miner Sheffield Resources on Tuesday announced that Kimberley Mineral Sands (KMS), owner of the Thunderbird mine in Western Australia, has entered into a zircon concentrate offtake agreement with Yansteel covering all unsold zircon concentrate for the remainder of 2025.
The agreement, which runs until December 31, 2025, and may be extended by mutual consent, sets a fixed free-on-board price equivalent to the current fourth-quarter cost, insurance and freight (CIF) zircon market price in China.
Sheffield said the deal followed a deterioration in zircon concentrate market conditions in China, as highlighted in its September 2025 quarterly report.
Yansteel already holds a life-of-mine offtake for all ilmenite concentrate from Thunderbird Stage 1 at a fixed price until mid-2029. The company has also provided prepayments to support working capital and contributed its proportionate share of KMS-related shareholder funding requests since operations began. Yansteel remains a 9.9% shareholder in Sheffield.
KMS is in discussions with its senior secured lenders, Orion Resource Partners and the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, to restructure debt repayments in line with a revised mine plan, updated costs and forecast prices. Sheffield said negotiations were advancing but cautioned that there was no certainty that amendments to the loan facilities would be completed in the near term. Both Sheffield and Yansteel remain sponsors and guarantors of the facilities.
Executive chair Bruce Griffin said the zircon offtake deal highlighted Yansteel’s continued support for the Thunderbird operation.
“The KMS and Yansteel zircon offtake agreement demonstrates Yansteel’s commitment to the Thunderbird mine. Yansteel remains a strong and supportive partner for Sheffield and KMS to ensure delivery of the KMS strategy to realise full production from Thunderbird by the first quarter of the 2027 financial year,” Griffin said.
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