Business

Tara Mines working on plan to resume operations despite loss of €67.5m

Operations at Co Meath-based mine were temporarily suspended in July

Miners finishing their shift in Tara Mines. The group mined and milled 1.1m tonnes of ore in 2023, which was a reduction of 48% compared to the prior year. Photograph: Paddy Whelan

Colin Gleeson
Fri Mar 22 2024 - 10:05

Tara Mines, which has been effectively shut since last summer, has said it is working on a plan to resume operations despite suffering a pretax loss of €67.5 million last year. The company, which has just published results for the year ended December 31st, 2023, sank from a pretax profit of €24.4 million in 2022.

Its principal activity is the extraction of ore from its mine in Navan, Co Meath, which it processes into zinc and lead concentrates, which are then exported. It has also looked for mineral deposits with the aim of extending the life of the mine, a venture it described as “successful”.

Tara Mines generated a turnover of €98 million, which was down 61 per cent on the €252.9 million it generated the year before. It said this was driven by lower zinc prices, lower metal grades, a weaker US dollar, and lower production due to the suspension of operations.

The average price for zinc fell 24 per cent when compared to the average for 2022. The group mined and milled 1.1 million tonnes of ore in 2023, which was a reduction of 48 per cent compared to the prior year.

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Operations at Tara Mines, which is owned by Swedish parent Boliden, were temporarily suspended in July and the facility was placed in a period of “essential care and maintenance”. The decision was taken due to a combination of low international zinc prices and high energy and other costs, but the company committed at the time that staff would be brought back on the same terms and conditions.

The company has claimed the mine is one of the most expensive of its type in the world to operate and needs to work very differently if it is to be viable in periods when zinc prices are not high.

Boliden has previously failed to rule out closing the mine permanently if zinc prices do not pick up, but in a note attached to this latest set of accounts the directors said they believe the closure period is temporary. “While market conditions remain challenging the group is currently working with key stakeholders and the group of unions on a plan to resume operations on a sustainable basis.”

The company said the decision to suspend operations was taken to “safeguard the long-term future of the group in response to significant and unsustainable financial losses that the business experienced during the first half of the financial year”.

“The directors believe that based on the forecast outlook, notwithstanding the cost of care and maintenance, the financial losses would have been significantly higher for the full year 2023 had the operation continued to run. The losses incurred during the first half of the financial year were driven by a combination of factors that have made this decision unavoidable. These factors include a decline in the price of zinc, high energy prices driven by global conflict, general cost inflation and internal operational challenges.”

Since the suspension the group has received financial support from Boliden to fund the care and maintenance, and Boliden has committed to financially support the group for the foreseeable future.

Colin Gleeson

Colin Gleeson

Colin Gleeson is an Irish Times reporter

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