Sheffield secures zircon contract

Aspiring minerals sands miner Sheffield Resources has signed an offtake agreement with a Chinese processor for more than half the zircon concentrate produced at its planned $348 million Thunderbird project near Derby.

The company said today it had signed a binding agreement with the largest minerals sands processor in China, Hainan Wensheng High-Tech Materials, to supply 27,000 tonnes of zircon per year for the next five years.

Under the agreement, pricing for the product will be based on the underlying $US price, while there is an opportunity to increase supply if production at the project increases above 50,000tpa.

Sheffield is aiming to begin construction of the project in the second quarter of 2018.

Managing director Bruce McFadzean said the company was pleased with its new partnership.

“We continue to see strong demand for the range of high-quality zircon and ilmenite products that will be produced at Thunderbird,” he said

“As we pursue our offtake strategy, we expect this demand to translate into additional agreements in coming months, continuing the success we have experienced in 2017.

“With 44 per cent of premium zircon for stage 1 of Thunderbird already under binding offtake agreement, the addition of over half our stage 1 zircon concentrate to our portfolio of binding agreements further supports the product quality of the project.”