Minor metals used to make smartphones, flat screens and solar panels will be processed in Australia for the first time after the Tasmanian Government agreed to back a commercial loan to global minerals giant Nyrstar.
The Zurich-based miner is spending $52 million to upgrade its processing plant at Lutana in Hobart to treat a wider range of metals.
The Australian Government’s Export Finance and Insurance Corporation approved a $29 million loan to go towards the upgrade, with the Tasmanian Government as guarantor.
Nyrstar’s Swiss-based chief development officer Michael Morley said the Tasmanian Government’s support for that loan was vital to the continued viability of the company’s Tasmanian operation.
“We are a resources company which, like most other resources companies on the planet, is going through a difficult period,” he said.
“It’s certainly very clear that we could not have proceeded with these investments but for the support we have from the Tasmanian Government.”
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