Port Pirie Mayor meets Nyrstar chief over bid to save the smelter with government funding

The mayor of Port Pirie has made some chilling comments about the future of the Mid North town and its 18,000 residents as Nyrstar’s future hangs in the balance.

Port Pirie Mayor Leon Stephens said if “Nyrstar goes, we go, the whole town”. Picture: Dean Martin

Nyrstar Australia chief Matt Howell met the Port Pirie Mayor on Thursday, telling of the company’s high hopes for an imminent government funding announcement to save the region’s economic lifeblood.

Mayor Leon Stephens said the region’s 18,000 residents were hoping for state and federal government support as “the basic scenario is if Nyrstar goes, we go, the whole town”.

Reports emerged this week that a deal to support the 130-year-old smelter would be reached this week after Mr Howell spent months meeting with the state and federal governments.

A state government spokesperson could not confirm when news about Nyrstar’s future would emerge but said the state government “is supportive of initiatives that contribute to the ongoing sustainability of refinery operations across our state”.

“The state government meets with Nyrstar and Trafigura regularly and will continue to do so,” he said.

“Complex refineries are a key component of South Australia’s economy, particularly in regional areas.”

It was understood that Premier Peter Malinauskas had been heavily involved in discussions with the company and the federal government but he is on annual leave.

Nyrstar has publicly announced it must make a decision about the future of its loss making plants in Port Pirie and in Tasmania within weeks.

Mr Stephens said Nyrstar was vital to the region employing some 900 people and drawing businesses to the region.

“$160m in local investment in our council region is spent by Nyrstar,” the sixth generation local said.

Nyrstar Australia chief executive Matt Howell. Picture: Supplied

“I feel confident that Nyrstar is putting its best foot forward, I feel a little bit of comfort that the government is talking to them, but as they say, the house is never built until the concrete is poured.”

Nyrstar – and its parent company Trafigura – wants to spend more than $400m on retrofitting its Port Pirie site to produce critical metals used in defence, renewables and other emerging industries.

The company has told The Advertiser it wants state and federal governments to pay $45m of taxpayers’ money for a two-year feasibility study and to support maintenance work to keep the Port Pirie smelter operating over that time.

Opposition spokesman for Mining, Stephen Patterson, said there was increasing concern about the “precarious situation at Nyrstar’s Port Pirie lead smelter and the uncertain position workers and the community find themselves in”.

He referred to state and federal governments bailing out the Whyalla steelworks with a $2.4bn rescue package.

“The government must act to provide support to Nyrstar’s Port Pirie lead smelter just as they did for Whyalla and must now outline any support package they are considering for the Port Pirie lead smelter, including timelines and costings.”

Nyrstar’s Port Pirie facility processes lead, silver, zinc fume and copper matte.

Originally published as Port Pirie Mayor meets Nyrstar chief over bid to save the smelter with government funding