Zinc prices on the rise as mines get tapped out

New York

TUCKED away in the remote limestone plateaus of northern Australia, the owners of a massive zinc mine have begun preparing its transition back to cattle-grazing land.

For the miner, China's MMG Ltd, that hurts because replacing the tapped-out mine - which is responsible for 4 per cent of the world's zinc output - with a fresh source of the metal has proved to be elusive. For commodity investors who have grown accustomed to the emergence of supply gluts sparking selloffs in everything from copper to wheat, it's a boon.