Zinifex

Zinifex was an Australian company that operated lead and zinc mines, refineries and a lead smelter. It was established in April 2004, when the assets of Pasminco were spun-off. In 2008 it merged with Oxiana to form OZ Minerals.

Zinifex
TypePublic
ASX: ZFX
IndustryMining and refining
FateMerged with Oxiana to form OZ Minerals
SuccessorOZ Minerals
Founded2002
Defunct30 June 2008
Headquarters
Melbourne
,
Australia
ProductsZinc, lead, silver
Revenue$4.6 billion (2007)
$1.7 billion (2007)
$1.3 billion (2007)
Websitewww.zinifex.com.au

History

In September 2001, Pasminco was placed in voluntary administration.[1][2][3] Some assets were sold by administrator Ferrier Hodgson, with the remaining profitable assets spun-off to a new entity, Zinifex, which was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in April 2004. Assets included mines in Mount Isa and Rosebery, and smelters in Budel (The Netherlands), Clarkesville (United States), Hobart and Port Pirie.[4][5][6]

After floating on the ASX, Zinifex proved successful mainly due to the company keeping no hedges in place, and benefiting from rises in the zinc price. The share price rose from $1.80 in April 2004 to over $18 in December 2006.[7]

On 1 July 2008, Zinifex merged with Oxiana to form OZ Minerals.[8][9][10]

Operations
Above-ground workings at the Rosebery mine in Rosebery, Tasmania

Zinifex Limited was engaged in minerals exploration, production and smelting to produce zinc and lead concentrates, and zinc, lead and silver metals together with various alloys and byproducts, and the marketing of these products. The segments of the company included Century Mine in Mount Isa, a large open cut zinc, lead and silver mine, operating on a mining lease secured for at least the life of the mine; Rosebery Mine in Rosebery, Tasmania, a medium-sized underground zinc, lead, silver, gold and copper mine; Port Pirie Smelter, a primary lead smelting facility; Australian Refined Alloys, an acid battery and lead recycling business owned 50% by Zinifex in a joint venture with Sims Metal Management; Budel Smelter, an electrolytic smelter, and Clarksville Smelter, a modern smelter to access a large portion of the United States zinc market.[11][12]

In December 2006, Zinifex announced it would merge its smelting operations with those of Umicore,[13] to form Nyrstar that was floated in October 2007.[14] This left Zinifex as purely a mining company.[15][16][17]

In early 2007, a number of incidents affected Zinifex: The Port Pirie smelter had a steam explosion in February[18] and an explosion when moisture contacted molten copper in March.[19] It also had a loading barge used to export ore from the Century Mine damaged in a cyclone.[20]

The zinc works at Lutana is the largest exporter in Tasmania, generating 2.5% of the state's GDP. In 2009, it produced over 250,000 tonnes of zinc.[21]

References
  1. How poor choices Savaged Pasminco Sydney Morning Herald 12 July 2002
  2. Annual report for year ended 30 June 2002 Pasminco
  3. Statement to the 2001 and 2002 Joint Annual General Meetings by John Spark, Deed Administrator Pasminco
  4. Pasminco Group Restructure Proposal Pasminco 2 March 2004
  5. Institutional Offering Memorandum Zinifex 11 March 2004
  6. History Pasminco
  7. "Zinifex Limited — Historical prices". Yahoo!7 Finance. Retrieved 2 December 2006.
  8. "Zinifex, Oxiana merge into OZ Minerals". The Sydney Morning Herald. 16 June 2008. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  9. Implementation of Ziniflex/Oxiana Scheme of Arrangement Zinifex 1 July 2008
  10. Removal from the Official List Australian Securities Exchange 2 July 2008
  11. Mines Zinifex
  12. Smelters Zinifex
  13. "Zinifex to merge smelting operations with Umicore". ABC News. 12 December 2006. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  14. "Zinifex, Umicore unveil Nyrstar float". The Age. Melbourne. 15 October 2007. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  15. "Zinifex and Umicore seek to create the world's leading producer of zinc metal, Nyrstar". Zinifex Limited. ASX. 12 December 2006. Archived from the original on 25 March 2007. Retrieved 12 December 2006.
  16. "Zinifex, Umicore to combine zinc assets as Nyrstar on the 1st september 2007". The Age. Melbourne. 9 January 2007.
  17. "Port Pirie smelter changes from Zinifex to Nyrstar". ABC News. 31 August 2007. Retrieved 18 September 2010.
  18. Ali Moore (6 February 2007). "Zinifex explosion forces lead smelter shutdown". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 11 March 2007.
  19. "Work resumes at Zinifex smelter". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 9 March 2007. Retrieved 11 March 2007.
  20. "Zinifex sees no cost from damaged ship". The Sydney Morning Herald. 14 February 2007. Retrieved 11 March 2007.
  21. "The Zinc Works". TChange. Retrieved 11 July 2009.
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