NEW CENTURY RESOURCES
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Meeting the demands of the zinc market
Zinc is a commodity very much driven by industrial demand which has remained strong , however with the current global trade disputes , sentiment around that demand has been muted . New Century Resources ’ Chief Operating Officer Barry Harris expects to see this sentiment turn once these are resolved . “ The zinc market globally is about 14n tonnes of refined metal per annum , with mine supply and the mining capacity fairly well matched in recent history ,” he notes . “ What happened is that China went from focusing on quantity of tonnes , to quality of tonnes . Over the last few years they ’ ve been tightening up on their environmental compliance , and with that about 1.3mn tonnes per annum of refining capacity was actually turned off , because those smelters had to put in additional environmental compliance works to get up to a standard that the Chinese government are happy with . That ’ s why the refined metal stocks dropped
FEBRUARY 2020