Subscribe to RSS feedZinc shipments unaffected by Karumba slurry leak
The Minerals and Metals Group (MMG) does not expect this week's slurry pipeline leak to cause major delays to its exports from port of Karumba.
Century mine in Queensland (Photo: MMG)
Operations at the Queensland mine were shut down on Monday after about 300 tonnes of zinc slurry, including 160 tonnes of zinc, leaked between the group's Century Mine and the port.
The pipeline is more than 300 km long and reportedly holds about 7500 tonnes of zinc slurry when at full capacity.
The Department of Environment said the spill was not severe but was monitoring the situation.
The Century mine is the world's second-largest open-cut zinc mining operation, producing about 500,000 tonnes of zinc each year.
The group told Bloomberg it had about 70,000 tonnes of the concentrate at Karumba and the shipping schedule was unaffected.
MMG said in a statement that it did not know the exact circumstances of the incident.
"This is the first time in 13 years of operation that the mine has experienced a discharge from the pipeline," MMG said.
"However, transport of concentrate will not re-commence until we are absolutely certain that we have resolved the situation."
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