MELBOURNE, July 16 (Xinhua) -- Australia's only manganese smelter will close down immediately after an acquisition deal fell through, administrators said on Thursday.
Administrators from Ernst and Young (EY) on Thursday said they have commenced the closure of the Liberty Bell Bay smelter in the northern region of the island state of Tasmania.
The smelter entered administration in March and administrators said that a consortium provided notice on Tuesday that they had ceased pursuing an acquisition.
"In the absence of both a commercially viable transaction, and the funding required to continue operations, the Administrators have made the difficult decision to commence the orderly closure of the business with immediate effect," a statement said.
"These difficulties were, in part, driven by the broader economic challenges associated with operating the smelter in a volatile global economy."
The facility, the last manganese smelter in Australia, was owned by a subsidiary of the GFG Alliance prior to being placed into administration.
It employs more than 200 people, some of whom will be retained to safely demobilize the site and realize the sale of remaining assets.
Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff said in a joint statement with Tim Ayres, the federal minister for Industry, that the closure represented a "very sad day" for local communities.
"Workers, unions, local businesses, EY and all levels of government have worked tirelessly these past few months towards finding a serious buyer for the smelter," they said.
The federal and state governments provided 10 million Australian dollars (7 million U.S. dollars) to support workers' wages during the administration process and the Tasmanian government provided a 20 million AUD (14 million USD) loan to the previous owner to purchase ore, which was delivered in October but never used. ■
