Regulated information
20 November 2013
Following the application of the Talvivaara Mining Company Plc ("Talvivaara") for the commencement of corporate restructuring proceedings on Friday 15 November, Nyrstar has been involved in on-going discussions with Talvivaara and other stakeholders on the most appropriate course of action for Talvivaara. As discussions are on-going Nyrstar is unable to comment on the likely outcome. Nyrstar would like its zinc streaming arrangement with Talvivaara to continue and is therefore exploring opportunities to provide further operational or other support, along with other stakeholders. However any other support that would be offered by Nyrstar would only be limited and short term in nature, and would be subject to a number of conditions that Nyrstar believes are necessary to restructure the company and its operations. It should also be noted that Nyrstar has received approximately 13,700 tonnes of zinc in concentrate under the zinc streaming agreement in 2013 up to the end of October, while its own mines are expected to produce between 265,000 to 280,000 tonnes this year.
Nyrstar continues to maintain a solid financial position. As of Friday, 15 November, Nyrstar had in excess of EUR 500 million of liquidity headroom in the form of committed facilities and cash and cash equivalents. Nyrstar's bonds are all covenant free and covenants on the Structured Commodity Trade Finance facility and other committed facilities are only balance sheet related (not linked to the income statement) and Nyrstar is comfortably within them. It should also be noted that in the event that a potential impairment of the Talvivaara asset on the Nyrstar balance sheet were to materialise, Nyrstar would not be in breach of any of its financing arrangements as of today.
Nyrstar remains committed to actively managing near term profitability and cash generation by delivering sustainable operational improvements, particularly in the current challenging metal price environment. Nyrstar Management is focused on delivering working capital improvements, through optimising physical inventory levels, delivering its cost savings programme (Project Lean) that aims to deliver EUR 75 million of annualised savings by the end of 2014, and through reducing capital expenditure, with the aim to be at the lower end of its 2013 guidance of EUR 200-230 million (2012 EUR 248 million). Management is also focused on improving the performance of its mining portfolio and has in place a mining improvement programme, which has identified and is implementing actions to improve both the cost, production and gross profit results of the mines which have not performed to expectations.
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About Nyrstar
Nyrstar is an integrated mining and metals business, with market leading positions in zinc and lead, and growing positions in other base and precious metals; essential resources that are fuelling the rapid urbanisation and industrialisation of our changing world. Nyrstar has mining, smelting, and other operations located in Europe, the Americas, China and Australia and employs over 7,000 people. Nyrstar is incorporated in Belgium and has its corporate office in Switzerland. Nyrstar is listed on NYSE Euronext Brussels under the symbol NYR. For further information please visit the Nyrstar website, www.nyrstar.com
For further information contact:
Jaideep Thatai Manager Investor Relations T: +41 44 745 8103 M: +41 79 722 3089 jaideep.thatai@nyrstar.com
Sheela Pawar de Groot Group Manager Corporate Affairs T: +41 44 745 8154 M: +41 79 722 6917 sheela.pawar@nyrstar.com
Geert Lambrechts Manager Corporate External Communications T: +32 14 449 646 M: +32 473 637 892 geert.lambrechts@nyrstar.com
The full press release can be downloaded from the following link: