NQ Minerals, a week after confirming the first sale of concentrate from its Hellyer tailings project, has entered into an additional marketing and offtake agreement with Traxys Europe that covers all the precious metal and pyrite concentrate to be produced over the first five years of operation.

The agreement includes the facility for prepayment against concentrate deliveries and provides Hellyer with access to Traxys’s extensive global network and experienced marketing and distribution team, NQ said.

NQ Minerals’ 2017 acquisition of Hellyer, in Tasmania, Australia, allows the opportunity to fully process the mine’s tailings.

Held within four separate areas, the tailings total a JORC-compliant resource of 9.5 Mt host to gold at 2.61 g/t Au for 796,000 oz, silver at 104 g/t Ag for 32 Moz Ag, lead at 3.03% Pb for 287,800 t and zinc at 2.5% Zn for 237,900 t. In addition to these tailings, the Hellyer mine assets include a large pre-existing mill facility and full supporting infrastructure, including a direct rail line to port.

The company has successfully ramped up the mill since acquisition, with flotation commissioning commencing at Hellyer in September after successful tails dredging and pumping slurry from the main tailings dam to the mill.

NQ Minerals and Traxys previously entered into two marketing and offtake agreements, combined with a $10 million secured prepayment facility agreement, with Traxys for the sale of lead and zinc concentrates over the first five years of operations.