Risdon Zinc Works (trading as Nyrstar Hobart) is a major zinc refinery located in Lutana, a suburb of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. The smelter is one of the world’s largest in terms of production volume, producing over annually of high-grade zinc, primarily as die-cast alloys and continuous galvanising-grade alloys. These products are exported for global markets and utilised in a wide range of industries and products, from building and infrastructure to transportation, business equipment, communications, electronics, and consumer goods. The facility produces zinc using the Roast, Leach, Electrowinning (RLE) method, creating leach byproducts, including cadmium, gypsum, copper sulphate, lead sulphate, sulphuric acid, paragoethite and leach concentrate. The refinery has been owned and operated by the global multi-metals business Nyrstar since 2007. Nyrstar Hobart works closely with the Nyrstar Port Pirie multi-metals smelter in South Australia. The facility is Tasmania's largest exporter, contributing 25% of the state's overall export value in 2013.
History
James Hyndes Gillies came to Hobart in 1908 with plans to build a zinc refinery and a hydroelectric facility, the latter of which would produce the electricity needed for a refinery's electrolytic process. Gillies purchased land south of Hobart at Electrona in 1909 with the intention of constructing an electrolytic zinc plant as well as other high energy uses, such as the manufacturing of calcium carbide. Gillies founded the Hydro-Electric Power and Metallurgical Company, and was given permission by the Tasmanian Government to build a dam and power plant in the centre of the state using water from the Great Lake. Lack of funding prevented the construction of the dam and power plant, which was eventually taken over by the Tasmanian Government in 1914. Despite Gillies' continuing efforts to construct a zinc and carbide facility at Electrona, only the carbide factory was completed.
Zinc works construction
The majority of Britain's supplies came from Germany and Belgium, but when the First World War broke out, zinc metal became a scarcity throughout the British Empire, which was needed to manufacture weapons. When Germany invaded Belgium, the price of zinc soared by 312 times.
Construction of the Risdon Zinc Works by EZ Industries commenced in 1916. It opened in 1918. The operations of the Risdon Zinc Works were tied in with the mining of zinc in Rosebery and Williamsford.
Amalgamated Zinc Limited began looking into the production of electrolytic zinc after acquiring thousands of tonnes of high-zinc concentrate in Broken Hill. The company's general manager, Herbert Gepp, was tasked with looking into the procedure when he was in America looking for markets for concentrate. Because of Tasmania's commitment in supplying cheap hydroelectric power, the corporation decided to establish a site there and signed a contract with the government for the delivery of power. During the 1920s the facility saw rapid expansion, becoming the world's largest zinc smelter, a title it held until the late 1930s.
The settlement of the suburb of Lutana was almost exclusively that of EZ workers. Pollution from the works was an issue for the company, and successor companies that operated the works as well as disposal of waste out to sea.
In 1924, the facility began manufacturing superphosphate for the fertiliser industry. Roasting furnaces were built to produce the sulphur dioxide needed to make sulphuric acid. The production of ammonium sulphate began as a means to utilise the sulphuric acid produced as an onsite byproduct.
Later expansion
By the mid 1970s, the smelter was exporting seventy-percent of its production overseas.
Ownership
The Risdon Zinc Works works were included in the sale of EZ Industries to North Broken Hill Peko in 1984. The smelter has subsequently been operated by Pasminco, Zinifex and since 2007 by Nyrstar.
Pollution
Historically, run-off from outdoor stockpiles of smelter production contaminated soil on the site, surrounding suburbs and the River Derwent. Despite regular monitoring primarily concerned with legacy pollution, the smelter continues to produce toxic heavy metal contaminants affecting the air, soils and estuary waters surrounding Greater Hobart.