Metals Insider reported tha Australian producer Kagara Zinc has received approval from the Queensland Environmental Protection Agency for its new Mungana zinc copper mine.

The construction of Mungana mine will begin in April 2008 and take around 10 months to complete with commissioning scheduled for February 2009. Total development costs are expected to be around AUD 80 million. The mine will produce around 50,000 tonnes per year of contained zinc and 8,000 tonnes per year of contained copper once fully on line.

Kagara said that “The Mungana deposit is the highest value resource in Kagara’s inventory and will produce zinc at below USD 0.30 per pound of payable met."