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MMG has announced the project will start this year, six months ahead of schedule.
Stoping is already under way and 134,200 tonnes of ore stockpiled in readiness for commissioning.
The project is due to deliver first ore in late 2017, which MMG CEO Jerry Jiao said was well-timed to meet a tightening zinc market.
In full production Dugald River is expected to turn out about 170,000t of zinc in zinc concentrate plus by-products.
It will mine 1.7 million tonnes per annum and the underground mine has an estimated 25-year life.
MMG expects C1 costs of US68c per pound to US78c/lb when the operations are fully up and running.
The total expected capital cost for the project is about US$600 million.
That mill size debate a decade ago was more a reflection of the tight power conditions in northern Queensland. Could the economic argument stack up for an 8 megawatt mill or something larger?
However, the zinc market fell into a large hole and the project went into something of a hiatus.
In 2015 MMG announced a revised mining plan for the project.
While it is close to complete there has been a high level of contracting activity on site with a focus on construction completion and operational readiness.
New and revised agreement include for the tailings storage facility civil earthworks; village expansion; concentrate plant construction; utilities supply and maintenance; original equipment manufacturer spare parts supply and services; reagents and commodities first fill and ongoing supply; multiple infrastructure and ancillary equipment contracts including site communication; refuge chambers; laboratory equipment and ancillary fleet; drilling services; raiseboring; and paste plant reticulation installation services.
Alliance Airlines has also joined the suppliers roster, signing a contract to provide air charter services between Townsville and Cloncurry.
The aviation company provided similar services to MMG into the Century Mine between 2009 and April 2016.
Its initial contract is for two years with a further two years at MMG’s option.
