Sibanye-Stillwater has reported an increase in payable zinc production from its Century zinc retreatment operation in Queensland.
The South African based miner produced 25,000 tonnes (t) of zinc from Century during the March 2025 quarter, a 92 per cent increase from the previous quarter. Sibanye also sold 10,000t of payable zinc metal.
Sibanye credited the production results from Century to actions it took during 2024 to minimise future impact of heavy rain events. Such actions included the addition of two satellite slurry winning pontoons, additional dewatering infrastructure, an improved debris removal system, and additional water diversion bunds.
“The Century operations in the Australian region, increased production materially compared with (the March 2024 quarter) (impacted by extreme weather and flooding) after implementing weather resilience measures during 2024, enabling a $US10 million contribution to Group adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation), compared with a $US14 million adjusted EBITDA loss for (the March 2024 quarter),” Sibanye-Stillwater chief executive officer Neal Froneman said.
Sibanye is expected to continue its strong operational and financial performance at Century during the rest of 2025, with the company actively exploring options to extend the life of the assets beyond the current zinc retreatment operation.
These options include potentially utilising Century’s infrastructure to access the extensive largely undeveloped phosphate resources in the region. Phosphate is a critical component in many fertilisers.
Sibanye said a feasibility study for these options are currently underway and is expected to be completed by the end of 2025. A feasibility study for the Mt Lyell copper mine in Tasmania, which Sibanye acquired in November 2023, is also projected to be completed by the second half of 2025.
Sibanye closed the March quarter with $US222 million in total Group adjusted EBITDA.