Zinifex was an Australian company that operated

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

and

zinc Zinc is a chemical element; it has symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodic tabl ...

mines,

refineries A refinery is a production facility composed of a group of chemical engineering unit processes and unit operations refining certain materials or converting raw material into products of value. Types of refineries Different types of refineries a ...

and a lead

smelter Smelting is a process of applying heat and a chemical reducing agent to an ore to extract a desired base metal product. It is a form of extractive metallurgy that is used to obtain many metals such as iron, copper, silver, tin, lead and zin ...

. It was established in April 2004, when the assets of

Pasminco Pasminco was an Australian mining company founded in 1988. It was placed in voluntary administration in September 2001 with its assets sold in stages until 2004 when the remaining assets were spun-off to Zinifex. History Pasminco was establi ...

were spun-off. In 2008 it merged with Oxiana to form OZ Minerals.

History

In September 2001,

was placed in voluntary administration. 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 Australian Securities Exchange Ltd (ASX) is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary Exchange (organized market), securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or c ...

(ASX) in April 2004. Assets included mines in Mount Isa and Rosebery, and smelters in Budel (The Netherlands), Clarkesville (United States),

Hobart Hobart ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, it is the southernmost capital city in Australia. Despite containing nearly hal ...

and

Port Pirie Port Pirie is a small city on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf in South Australia, north of the state capital, Adelaide. Port Pirie is the largest city and the main retail centre of the Mid North region of South Australia. The city has an ex ...

. 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. On 1 July 2008, Zinifex merged with Oxiana to form OZ Minerals.

Operations

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 Rosebery is a town on the West Coast, Tasmania, west coast of Tasmania, Australia. It is at the northern end of the West Coast Range, in the shadow of Mount Black (Tasmania), Mount Black and adjacent to the Pieman River, now Lake Pieman. It lie ...

, a medium-sized underground zinc, lead, silver, gold and copper mine;

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. In December 2006, Zinifex announced it would merge its smelting operations with those of Umicore, to form Nyrstar that was floated in October 2007. This left Zinifex as purely a mining company. In early 2007, a number of incidents affected Zinifex: The Port Pirie smelter had a steam explosion in February and an explosion when moisture contacted molten copper in March. It also had a loading barge used to export ore from the Century Mine damaged in a cyclone.

References

{{reflist Companies formerly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange Defunct mining companies of Australia 2004 establishments in Australia 2008 disestablishments in Australia Companies based in Melbourne 2009 mergers and acquisitions Corporate spin-offs