LONDON (Alliance News) - ZincOx Resources PLC Monday said it is moving forward equipment upgrades at its Korean Recycling plant in order to improve plant performance after mixed production results.
The company, which is developing Asia's largest zinc recycling project, said it produced a record 3,131 tonnes of zinc in concentrate during January, which generated a positive earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation of over USD200,000.
However, the company said production was constrained by a lack of oxygen contracted from its external supplier.
ZincOx said the supplier has since increased capacity of the supply and production continues to increase in March. In the first sixteen days of March, 1,750 tonnes of zinc in concentrate was produced, and it expects March production to be significantly higher than January.
The company added that due to a fault in the gas handling system during February, it decided to bring forward the replacement of its inner shell from March, and this was completed successfully in February but led to a low production rate in February of 1,053 tonnes of zinc in concentrate.
ZincOx experienced a range of maintenance and repair issues during 2013 as it attempted to reconstitute large amounts of zinc from recycled zinc dust.
During November and December, the company had to complete further repairs on its welds and furnaces, and said that production was limited during November and December, with the production and sale of 2,289 and 1,145 tonnes of zinc in concentrate, respectively, in that period, bringing the full year's production to 24,577 tonnes, resulting in revenues in Korea for the year in excess of USD26 million.
On Monday, the company announced that it has decided to move forward replacement of the inner shells on two further heat exchangers to April from August in order to improve the reliability of the plant
The company said that following these replacements, the heat exchangers should not require further attention, and production should proceed without interruption until August and September, when there is a planned inspection and maintenance stoppage in line with the overall availability plan for the plant.
ZincOx shares were down 2.8% to 17.25 pence Monday.
By Tom McIvor; tommcivor@alliancenews.com; @TomMcIvor1
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