Nyrstar produced 1.019 million mt of zinc metal from its processing operations in 2017, up marginally from 1.015 million mt in 2016 and in line with the lower end of its full-year 2017 guidance of 1.0 million to 1.1 million mt, the Belgium-based producer said Thursday.
"Flat zinc metal production year-over-year was due to the planned maintenance shuts at Balen and Budel in Q2, 2017 which negatively impacted production by approximately 11,000 mt and 6,500 mt of zinc metal respectively; the planned maintenance shuts at Hobart and Clarksville in Q3, 2017; unplanned outages experienced in Budel in Q3 2017; and unplanned outages at Hobart in Q4 2017," the company said in its annual results statement.
Zinc metal production at the Auby smelter in France was up 11% in 2017 compared to 2016 as a result of a planned cellhouse maintenance shutdown in Q1, 2016; the Balen plant in Belgium was up 6% despite a planned 21-day cellhouse shutdown in May 2017 which improved production rates; and Clarksville in the US was up 6% primarily due to a higher proportion of feed being sourced from Nyrstar's East Tennessee mines unit.
Lead metal output at the Port Pirie operation in Australia was down 8% on the year at 171,000 mt "due to two unplanned blast furnace stops to repair damaged water cooled jackets, heat exchanger failures in the old acid plant and operational issues in the sinter plant that have negatively affected sinter quality," the company said.
These issues were largely resolved in Q3, 2017, Nyrstar said.
Nystar's mining operations produced 123,000 mt of zinc in concentrate in 2017, up 28% from the previous year following the restart of its Middle Tennessee mines unit in the US in Q4, 2016.
First mill production was achieved in Q2, 2017, and production of 22,000 mt of zinc in concentrate from the Middle Tennessee mines in the period of May to December 2017 was "in line with management's expectations," the company said.
It added that the Middle Tennessee mines had ramped-up to an operating level of about 50,000 mt/year of zinc in concentrate by the end of 2017.
Nyrstar is in the process of restarting its Myra Falls zinc, copper and lead underground mine on Vancouver, Canada, with zinc concentrate production expected to begin by the start of Q2 and ramp up to 30,000 mt/year by the end of 2018.
