Nyrstar bids to tap into critical minerals market to sustain Hobart, Port Pirie smelter operations

Australia Broadcast Center

18 hours ago

From phone screen coatings to solar panel conductors, the key ingredients in future tech can be found in the waste of Hobart's century-old zinc smelter.
As Nyrstar battles worldwide market volatility, it plans on using a financial lifeline to investigate diversifying market operations.
"This is a very long-term vision to ensure that these businesses are here for the long term," said Matt Howell, Nyrstar Australia's chief executive.
On Tuesday, a joint bailout package for Nyrstar's Hobart and Port Pirie smelters was announced by the federal, Tasmanian, and South Australian governments.
A total of $135 million in "transitionary support" — including $70 million that had previously been awarded but not used to modernise technology — has been promised to help maintain operations while the company investigates critical metals production.
Nyrstar will now explore what work is needed in order to produce germanium and indium, both by-products of the current zinc smelting process.
Germanium is a semiconductor and plays a large role in renewable energy products and electronics like fibre optic cables.
Indium can be found in most people's pockets. Indium is a key ingredient of the coating on smartphone screens, is used in renewable energy technology, and has medical applications.
Ray Mostogl of the Tasmanian Minerals, Manufacturing and Energy Council said it was a smart move for Nyrstar to extract value from by-products — both to make the plant more profitable, and make it less reliant on zinc.
"Some of these rare earths and critical minerals did not have significant value 50, 60 years ago when some of these plants were designed — so they tended to just go out with the waste," he said.
The announcement sheds light on the smelter's immediate future, after Nyrstar's parent company, Trafigura, flagged the possibility of selling the site.
Mr Mostogl said Nyrstar was not an "ailing business", but rather subject to forces currently interfering in the market.
"What happened is the Chinese government has interfered with the market and has created a price that's so low that basically everybody's losing money," he said.
"But those plants in China are being subsidised by the Chinese government, so they can keep running.
"This is about paying for a period of time until they can do their study and prove up what the economics looks like, and what the technical aspects look like, to be able to produce these critical minerals.
Industry Minister Tim Ayres, while announcing the package in Port Pirie, said the focus was on making sure the plant and the Hobart plant were modernised and made fit for the future.
Mr Ayres said Nyrstar had committed to maintaining employment at its two sites.
"The long-term security of jobs here is going to be guaranteed by the long-term economic viability of this facility, and that's why we're focused on lifting its productivity," he said.
Like all four of Tasmania's major industrials (MIs), Nyrstar has faced increasing cost pressures in recent years, including in its energy bills.
Tasmania's four MIs — Nyrstar, Boyer Mill, Liberty Bell Bay, and Bell Bay Aluminium — pay just over half of the state's total transmission costs.
Electricity provider TasNetworks has hit the MIs with an average 13.9 per cent increase in transmission costs this year, with a scheduled 10.6 per cent increase next year.
Last week, the Tasmanian, Victorian, and federal governments made a final investment decision to proceed with Marinus Link, agreeing on a second undersea energy cable between Tasmania and Victoria.
The first stage of the project comes at a cost of $5 billion and is expected to be completed in 2029-30.
The Tasmanian government's Whole of State business case says the increase in transmission costs will be "highly problematic commercially", with the MIs to be hit with a 45 per cent increase.
"Transmission prices for the MIs in aggregate are expected to increase by up to $20 million on average in real terms from 2030-31 to 2049-50," it reads.
If the second stage of the project (a second 750MW cable) were to proceed, they would be hit with another $10 million.
The case found the implications arising from Marinus were "material" and would require "careful consideration by the government and stakeholders".
Premier Jeremy Rockliff said the increased revenues gained from Marinus would be used to ensure that Tasmania was "very competitive" and that it could help attract other major industries.