Toho Zinc’s Rasp Mine to Enter Mass Production in July-August

Rasp zinc/lead mine in Eastern Australia, which is wholly owned by Toho Zinc, will commence mass production in July-August. The plant construction has already completed. The test operation is conducted at present and scheduled to finish within May. Construction of underground facilities is expected to complete in July and the mine will enter mass production.

Rasp mine is located in New South Wales in which Toho Zinc’s wholly owned subsidiary, CBH Resources holds the all shares. Crude ore processing volume is planned at 400,000 tonnes in 2012 and raised to 650,000 tonnes in and after 2013.

Zinc concentrate production is planned at 35,000 tonnes in 2012, 67,000 tonnes in 2013 and 78,000 tonnes in 2014. Ore processing volume will not increase in 2014 from2013 but high grade ore body will contribute to higher output of zinc concentrate. Lead concentrate production is also expected to increase thanks to high grade ore body.

CBH Resources starts to operate 2 mines, Rasp and Endeavor in Australia. Toho Zinc forecasts the company’s mineral resource business unit could gain 5.65 billion yen of annual operating profit in fiscal 2014 ending in March 2015, jumping from 2.1 billion yen in fiscal 2012, thanks to the concentrate output increase and the market price upsurge for zinc and lead.