Glencore, alongside industry giants Rio Tinto and Trafigura-owned Nyrstar, is actively seeking government aid to support their metal smelting and processing operations in Australia. The companies have been dealt a very tough hand in the Australian market. Rapidly increasing power costs and intense competition from China put their future in doubt.
The Mount Isa Mines complex is critical for Glencore’s copper and zinc production in Queensland. Yet it continues to be at the heart of these discussions. Glencore is the complex’s owner, which at times housed the company’s only copper smelter and refinery. These facilities are under great stress due to rapidly increasing energy costs. These challenges threaten Glencore’s profitability and threaten local jobs and economic security throughout the Roan region.
Rio Tinto, too, has a stake in these negotiations, mostly over their Tomago aluminum smelter in New South Wales. The joint-venture smelter is the backbone of Australia’s aluminum industry. Nyrstar operates a zinc smelter in Tasmania and a multi-metal plant in South Australia. Both facilities are currently under the same pressures that we outlined above as facing Glencore’s operations.
Canada’s major mining companies are already working to develop these strategies with provincial and federal governments. Their strategy is to win these concessions in exchange for maybe billions in federal assistance. We’re working to ease your bottom line amid increasing operational costs. We want to make sure that we are able to sustainably continue our work in Australia.
As negotiations between the companies continue, Rio Tinto and Alcan stress the need for the companies to be able to keep their Australian smelting and processing operations. The loss of these operations would be a devastating blow to the local economies. It would not only wreak havoc on Australia’s emerging critical minerals mining sector.