Zinc expects a shortage and a rise in prices - Nyrstar

Nyrstar NV, the world's largest zinc producer, expects the metal's price to rise after
after the 500,000 tonne Century mine in Australia will close later this year.

“We are entering a period in which the concentrate and metals markets are projected to be in short supply,” said Eigner, chief executive officer of Nyrstar in Belgium. "This double deficit will have a huge impact on the rise in the zinc price range," he added.

Zinc has already added 6 percent to the price last year amid speculation that production will lag behind demand as some mines have closed. Stocks in warehouses tracked on the London Metal Exchange are at their lowest since October 2010, with strong consumer demand for galvanized products. The situation is similar on other metal exchanges. Galvanized steel sheet production reached a new all-time high in 2014, driven by increased consumption in the automotive, construction and other industries.

Australia's largest open pit zinc mine, Century, is slated to close in the third quarter. “We expect the concentrate market to have good supply in early 2015, but then the closure of Century could turn things around at the end of this year,” said Eigner, who took over as director of Nyrstar last November. "And those 500,000 tonnes that don't go to market will have a significant impact and it turns out that Century will do it alone."

To increase the service life of metal structures and increase their reliability, steel is coated with a layer of zinc - the so-called galvanizing. In Russia, hot-dip galvanizing of steel is widespread in which a layer of zinc is applied to iron heated to 600 degrees Celsius. The Armada company proposes to conduct hot-dip galvanizing in Yekaterinburg . When using the hot-dip galvanizing technology, the thickness of the zinc coating corresponds to GOST 9.307-89 and can be from 80 to 200 microns.