New Century Resources has loaded its first shipment of zinc concentrate for export from the restarted Century operations in north-west Queensland.

The first transhipment of concentrate from MV Wunma to the export vessel represented a major milestone for the company just 15 months after listing on the ASX, New Century Resources managing director Patrick Walta said.

“New Century has now demonstrated the viability of the operation’s entire logistics chain from hydraulic mining to tailings reprocessing, slurry pipeline operations, port operations and concentrate transhipment,” he said.

The first shipment from Karumba in the Gulf of Carpentaria comprises 10,000t of the New Century’s commissioning grade concentrate, which is to be delivered to contractual specification to a major Chinese smelting group and contains no penalties for lead or carbon and only an immaterial penalty for silica.