New Century raises $116.7m for growth path

New Century Resources has completed a $116.7 million equity raising launched as part of a growth strategy including the purchase of Tasmania’s Mount Lyell copper mine. It includes a significant investment by Sibanye-Stillwater in the company, which operates the Century zinc mine in North-West Queensland. In an announcement today, New Century welcomed Sibanye-Stillwater to its share register as a supportive strategic partner, with the objective of enhancing its profile as a premier, global tailings retreatment leader. New Century Resources restarted operations at the Century zinc mine in 2018, establishing a tailings reprocessing operation. The mothballed Mount Lyell mine (pictured below) has mineral resources including 1.1Mt ‘green’ copper and about 1Moz gold, with a potential accelerated restart via tailings reprocessing. When the acquisition plans were announced in late October, New Century managing director Patrick Walta said the team had a clear focus to become a global leader in economic rehabilitation and tailings management. “With the Century Mine asset now generating strong consistent cash flows, combined with hedging of unprecedented zinc prices and the near-term development of Silver King and other in-situ deposits, the company has created a fantastic ‘engine room’ for future growth," he said. “With this in place, New Century remains committed to generating significant value for shareholders through inorganic growth opportunities via further ‘Century style’ transactions and also monetisation of our established competency and track record in large scale tailings management." Related: Thumbs up for value in new Century mining operations Sibanye-Stillwater has acquired a 19.99 per cent shareholding in New Century via an equity investment of $61 million. "This investment in New Century represents a significant next step in our strategy of building a leading global tailings retreatment business, diversified by commodity and geography and is aligned with our sustainability strategy of building a climate change resilient business," Sibanye-Stillwater chief executive officer Neal Froneman said. He said the group was impressed with what New Century had achieved at developing a significant zinc business through the reprocessing of tailings, whilst facilitating rehabilitation of the Century mine site. "We are pleased to partner with New Century Resources in this exciting next phase of their growth at Mount Lyell and support their vision of growing their tailings management advisory service business model globally, to produce green metals and address environmental legacy issues,” he said. Hydraulic mining of tailings at the Century mine in North-West Queensland.

New Century raises $116.7m for growth path

Industry Queensland

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