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United States

Middle Tennessee Complex

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Categories

Summary

Mine TypeUnderground
StatusCare and Maintenance
Commodities
  • Zinc
Mining Method
  • Room-and-pillar
  • Longhole stoping
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Mine Life... Lock
SnapshotMiddle Tennessee is comprised of two underground zinc mines; Gordonsville and Cumberland, and a processing plant located at the Gordonsville mine site.

In July 2019, Nyrstar’s operating business became majority owned by Trafigura. Production numbers have not been publicly available since then.

As of the end of 2025, the mines remain non-operational.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Trafigura Group Pte Ltd. 100 % Indirect
Nyrstar Tennessee Mines - Gordonsville LLC (operator) 100 % Direct
The Middle Tennessee Complex owned and operated by Nyrstar Tennessee Mines - Gordonsville LLC, subsidiary of Trafigura Group.

15 December 2025 Nyrstar has entered into an agreement with Korea Zinc in connection with the East Tennessee and Mid Tennessee mining complexes and the Clarksville smelter, currently owned or operated by Nyrstar.

Under the terms of the proposed transaction, Korea Zinc plans to acquire the fully permitted sites in the state of Tennessee to develop a new state-of-the-art fully integrated large-scale smelting facility in Clarksville, Tennessee.

The proposed transaction between Korea Zinc and Nyrstar is subject to certain conditions, including regulatory approvals with the sale expected to clase in the first half of 2026. Under the terms of the proposed agreement, the Clarksville smelter's zinc metal production for 2026 would continue to be sold to Trafigura.

Deposit type

  • Mississippi Valley Type

Summary:

Zinc mineralisation at the mine complex occurs in Mississippi Valley type deposits as open-space fillings of breccias and fractures within limestone and dolomites.

Brecciation and zinc mineralization is associated with the Lower Ordovician upper Knox Group, which is the unit of interest on the MTM Project. The main members of upper Knox Group are the Mascot Dolomite and the Kingsport Formation. The Mascot Dolomite consists of predominantly very finely crystalline dolostone units of various shades of brown and gray interbedded with some limestone units or their dolomitized medium and coarsely crystalline equivalents. The very finely crystalline dolostones are considered to be primary in origin, that is, they formed very early in the history of the strata regardless of the exact dolomitization mechanism(s). The thickness of the Mascot ranges from 759 to 847 ft.

The upper Mascot includes the interval from the Knox unconformity to the M-3 marker. Thickness of this section is very variable primarily due to removal of upper units by pre-Chazyan erosion; in some areas of Central Tennessee most of the interval is missing. In Smith and Trousdale counties (the MTM Project area), the upper Mascot ranges from about 135 to 225 ft.

The upper part of the late breccia systems host the main economic zinc deposits. Sphalerite, fluorite, barite, marcasite, pyrite, calcite, dolomite, and quartz form varying proportions of the cement of the mineral-matrix breccia. Economic grade occurrences of sphalerite are not distributed uniformly throughout breccia structures, but occur along the periphery of the bodies.

Three types of sphalerite, distinguished by colour and texture, are present in the MTM deposits: massive, vug fill, and disseminated. The massive sphalerite, the dominant variety, is characterized by coarsely crystalline, dark reddishbrown, resinous masses in mineralized breccias, either as single-phase aggregates or inter-grown with gangue minerals. Vug fill sphalerite, which fills vugs of various dimensions, is characterized by large crystal size, dark brown to black colour and rubyred internal reflection. Disseminated sphalerite is yellowish-brown in colour and occurs as small grains in altered limestone and fine-grained dolostone at the periphery of breccia bodies.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Heavy Mobile Equipment

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

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Processing

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Commodity Production

CommodityProductUnits201820172015
Zinc Metal in concentrate kt 39 22 47
Zinc Concentrate kt 60 34 74

Operational metrics

Metrics201820172015
Tonnes milled 1,389 kt of ore 769 kt of ore 1,482 kt of ore

Production Costs

Commodity production costs have not been reported.

Operating Costs

Currency20182017
Direct operating costs ($/t milled) USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe

Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Mar 25, 2026
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Mar 25, 2026

Workforce

EmployeesYear
...... Subscription required 2025
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