MZI in trial shipment

Mineral sands producer MZI Resources has announced a letter of intent for a trial shipment to a Chinese chloride pigment producer, the day after it hit nameplate capacity at its Keysbrook facility.

Its partner will be Jinzhou Titanium, a subsidiary of Citic, which has iron ore operations in the state’s midwest.

The trial covers MZI’s leucoxene 88 product, of which around two thirds of production is covered through offtake agreements.

Overall, the company said more than 85 per cent of its production was covered by offtakes.

Yesterday, MZI said it’s wet concentrator at Keysbrook had exceeded nameplate capacity for five consecutive days, and hence satisfied requirements for commissioning.

MZI managing director Trevor Matthews said it had been a rapid ramp-up, requiring less than a month.

He praised lead contractor GR Engineering Services.

“With commissioning of the MFU and Picton facilities in progress, we are well on track to complete our ramp up to full production during December,” Mr Matthews said.

The company is targeting first sales in December 2015, with a plan to produce 96,000 tonnes annually at full capacity.

MZI was up 1.3 per cent to 39 cents per share at the time of writing.