I’m saying for the other miners from a group perspective its...

I’m saying for the other miners from a group perspective its left pocket, right pocket. Smelters in the group benefit when TCs are high and miners benefit when Zinc TCs are low. MMG is a listed entity majority owned/controlled by China Minmetals (Chinese SOE) who own a number of zinc smelters in China.
The life of these large mines are not 5-6 years but 10-20+ years enough to cover a few cycles. NCZ not so much at this stage. For Teck it is certainly better than the spot market at $275 TC.

We know that commodity prices tend to overshoot to the upside and the downside. The previous low got to below $1500/tonne zinc and average prices between 1500-2000 for 2015. Other integrated miners are much better placed to survive this. NCZ not so much.

FMG had the advantage of having the first few years of their production when iron ore prices were through the roof to build a cash stockpile and it also helped that Vale’s mine. If NCZ brought their production at the right time we wouldn’t be having this discussion as they would have probably built enough of a cash buffer. Wrong market, wrong time. Best tell Oxiana/Zinifex and Kagara Zinc about commodity cycles as well.