<article><p class="lead">Global metals group Vedanta Zinc International's (VZI) Skorpion refinery in southern Namibia will fully ramp up operations by mid-July after restarting on 17 April following an unplanned shutdown.</p><p>Normal operations were reached within four days of the restart, a company representative said. The three-month ramp-up in production, starting from 17 April, will increase the refinery's current production rate.</p><p>Indian parent company Vedanta Resources <a href="https://metals.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/1898802">expects</a> output from the Skorpion refinery to reach 110,000t in the financial year ending in March 2020, up from 66,000t a year earlier.</p><p>VZI shut the Skorpion zinc refinery on <a href="https://metals.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/1866777">15 March</a> because of depleted stocks. Ore stocks were depleted as a result of a strike by workers of Skorpion Zinc's mining contractor, Basil Read. VZI consequently brought forward maintenance originally scheduled for April 2019.</p><p>The Skorpion Zinc mine is the only known and exploited zinc oxide mine in Namibia. The refinery was purposefully engineered and built for the Skorpion orebody.</p><p>The refinery's output can be fully sustained by the Skorpion orebody but the operation has also imported and processed ore from Turkey and continues to do so at limited quantities. </p><p>"We intend on building on this capability and together with the refinery conversion open the avenue for co-treating zinc sulphides," VZI said.</p><p>VZI produced 148,000t of refined zinc and zinc concentrates in the April 2018-March 2019 fiscal year, a 5pc year-on-year fall driven by a 22pc production decrease at Skorpion Zinc and a 10pc fall from South African firm Black Mountain Mining, in which VZI holds a 69.6pc interest.</p><p>VZL is the African and Irish zinc division of Indian private-sector firm Vedanta Resources. Vedanta is India's largest zinc producer and ranked third in the world. Refined zinc output in Vedanta's April 2018-March 2019 year totalled 696,000t.</p></article>
