London, Oct 6 -- A press report, dated today, states: Chinese Government-owned Minmetals was last night scrambling to assess the damage after zinc slurry spilled from a broken pipeline at its ageing Century mine in Queensland. Minmetals' Australian subsidiary, Minerals and Metals Group, told the share market that a pipeline transporting zinc slurry from the mine operations at Lawn Hill to the dewatering and port facilities at Karumba on the Gulf of Carpenteria had ruptured. MMG spokeswoman Sally Cox said that the amount of zinc slurry spilled into surrounding farmland was "likely to be in the tonnes". The 304-kilometre pipeline can hold about 7500 tonnes of zinc slurry at full capacity. Operations at a processing plant will be shut down during the clean-up and repair period, but mining operations will continue.