By Courtney Pearson
4 November, 2015
SMALL-cap junior MZI Resources has begun production at its Keysbrook mineral sands mine days after completing a major capital raising.
The Keysbrook mine, south of Perth, started production at the end of October, three weeks ahead of schedule and on budget, with first sales targeted for late December.
“The Keysbrook project is performing exceedingly well and we now look forward to commencing product sales later this year,” MZI Resources managing director Trevor Matthews said.
The mine would be progressively commissioned to reach full capacity during the December quarter, to produce more than 95,000t of leucoxene and zircon products annually.
Heavy mineral concentrate from Keysbrook would be transported about 130km to Doral’s mineral separation plant in Picton, which would be commissioned in November.
The mine start-up comes after MZI Resources successfully placed 100 million shares at $0.40 per share. Together with a $2 million share purchase plan to be offered to existing shareholders, the company raised a total of $45 million.
The funding would be used to pay down an existing bridge loan to major shareholder Resources Capital Fund, with the remainder to be used as working capital.
“The success of the placement is a great vote of confidence in MZI and the Keysbrook project,” Mr Matthews said.
