Consolidated Zinc Limited (ASX: CZL) reports that offtake partner Industrias Peñoles SAB de CV (Peñoles) has exercised an option to purchase 100% of zinc concentrates produced by subsidiary Minera Latin American Zinc at its Plomosas mine in Mexico, for the entirety of 2022.
Peñoles is a major Latin-American resources company, listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange, and one of the world’s leading refiners of zinc via its Met-Mex smelter in Torreón, and the largest global refiner of silver.
Peñoles’ Met-Mex metallurgical operation in Torreón, Mexico. Image: Industrias Peñoles SAB de CVIt also holds an additional 1-year option to extend zinc concentrate purchases to the end of 2023, as part of the zinc concentrate offtake agreement.
Zinc concentrate sold to Peñoles is subject to treatment charges that are linked to the annual zinc treatment charge benchmark, agreed annually between major zinc miners and smelters.
zinc concentrates produced at Plomosas are high-grade with very low levels of deleterious impurities
According to the company, zinc concentrates produced at Plomosas are high-grade with very low levels of deleterious impurities, therefore minimising treatment charges.
CZL’s 100%-owned Plomosas Zinc Project covers more than 3,000 hectares in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua, approximately 350km from the United States border.
The company notes that the location of the Met-Mex smelter, at approximately 600km from Plomosas, delivers significant savings in transportation costs in comparison to other zinc smelters located further from Plomosas or in export markets.
