More drama for troubled smelter, risking 200 jobs
Australia’s only manganese alloy smelter has been placed into voluntary administration and declared the urgent focus of a mission to find a buyer.
Liberty Bell Bay in northern Tasmania has been idle since May, when it paused operations due to ore supply problems and global price fluctuations.
The smelter is a subsidiary of GFG Alliance, owned by Sanjeev Gupta, who previously ran the Whyalla steelworks under administration, which has run into trouble elsewhere in Australia.
British multinational EY announced its appointment as administrator of Liberty Bell Bay on Monday.
They will work with unions, state and federal governments to explore ways to support operations and meet with the 216-person workforce as soon as possible.
The primary goal is to secure a restructuring or sale of the company and its assets, the executive said.
“Our immediate focus is to begin a sales process to stabilize the Liberty Bell Bay operations and find a new owner for this critical piece of infrastructure,” said Morgan Kelly of EY.
Additional funding is being sought by EY for operational costs, including paying employee wages.
The current management team will remain in place.
The federal and state governments have said they will work closely with administrators.
“GFG has failed to deliver on its commitments to restart operations and provide certainty to the Tasmanian people,” Tasmanian Industry and Resources Minister Felix Ellis said.
“The news will be difficult for workers, their families and the local community who have already endured long periods of uncertainty.”
A spokesman for the GFG Alliance said the company would fully co-operate with administrators and assist in their efforts to achieve the best possible outcome for everyone.
“Liberty Bell Bay has faced a challenging 20 months due to force majeure declared by its main ore supplier, a significant deterioration in worldwide market conditions and rising costs,” the spokesman said.
“GFG Alliance was pursuing a sustainable future for Australia’s only manganese smelter to protect 216 Tasmanian jobs and support local industry.”
In August, the Tasmanian government loaned Liberty Bell Bay $20 million to purchase ore to continue operations.
When operations did not restart, the government appointed trustees and administrators in January to protect the ore stockpile and accused the company of violating credit regulations.
In May, the national corporate regulator took legal action to try to shut down Liberty Bell Bay over non-filing of tax returns.
GFG Alliance announced in November that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with a Georgian company to operate the smelter for up to five years.
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