Attila Resources (AYA, 19.5 cents) Market capitalisation: $36...

Attila Resources (AYA, 19.5 cents)
Market capitalisation: $36 million
Junior Attila Resources is taking over the moribund Century zinc mine in north-west Queensland, which earlier this century – under Pasminco ownership – was one of the largest zinc mines in the world.
Century kicked off production of both lead and zinc in 1999, shipping both metals out through the port of Karumba on the Gulf of Carpentaria. But Pasminco imploded after getting its foreign exchange hedging wrong. The company was refinanced in 2002 after its bankers accepted shares in place of their debt, and it returned to the sharemarket as Zinifex in 2004.
Zinifex subsequently merged with Oxiana to become Oz Minerals: in 2007, it was forced into a drastic debt restructuring, and sold everything but its Prominent Hill copper-gold mine in South Australia – Century went to the Chinese-controlled MMG, which shut Century in late 2015, saying the deposit had been mined out.
Enter Attila, which has bought a 70% stake in the mine, processing plant, accommodation camp, laboratory, slurry pipeline, Karumba Port facility and airport.
Even though Century is mined out, the attraction for Attila is that the mine still contains 2.5 million tonnes of JORC (Joint Ore Reserves Committee) compliant zinc metal equivalent in its tailings: Attila says that translates to about $2 billion worth of zinc left at the mine, enough to keep it producing until 2050. Century also has several undeveloped phosphate deposits that interest Attila.
Attila might not re-start production at Century until 2018, but this is a company-maker of a deal – Attila could find itself one of the top 10 zinc producers in the world. Analysts’ consensus sees the stock appreciating to at least 90 cents.