LONDON - Nyrstar said it plans to temporarily close two zinc mines in the US state of Tennessee at the end of November due to weak prices and the impact of inflation.
Dutch-based Nyrstar, majority owned by trading and logistics company Trafigura, said in a statement it will "temporarily pause production operations" on November 30 at its Middle Tennessee Mines.
That operation consists of two underground zinc mines, Gordonsville and Cumberland, according to Nyrstar's website.
Nyrstar does not disclose production data for individual mine operations, but the Middle Tennessee processing plant has a capacity of three-million metric tons of ore and 50 000 t of zinc concentrates annually, a spokesperson said.
During the suspension, Nyrstar will conduct drilling operations to find additional zinc, germanium and gallium resources, it added.
In July, Nyrstar said it was looking at germanium and gallium projects in Australia, Europe and the United States, which could help ease any shortages created by China's export controls on the materials used for computer chips.
Zinc prices CMZN3 on the London Metal Exchange have slumped 16% so far this year, but were up 2.5% at $2 492 a metric ton on Wednesday.