Manganese Smelter's Future Uncertain

Australia's manganese smelter faces an uncertain future.

In short:

Non-binding offers for Liberty Bell Bay closed.

The government met with lenders to discuss the smelter's future.

What's next?

A union delegation seeks certainty for workers.

Non-binding offers closed for the Liberty Bell Bay smelter.

The state and federal governments announced a $3 million loan.

Three weeks of wages were secured for Liberty Bell Bay staff.

The future of the smelter is too important to be handled one pay cycle at a time.

Workers should not wonder if their jobs will exist by the next payday.

A short-term rescue package will guarantee workers' wages.

The state government will monitor potential buyers for the smelter.

A buyer willing to invest is the best hope for the workforce.

Liberty Bell Bay workers are uncertain about their future.

Liberty Bell Bay was placed into caretaker mode last May.

Secured lender White Oak took over GFG's holding in Liberty Bell Bay.

ASIC has multiple investigations into Sanjeev Gupta's troubled empire.

EY issued an ultimatum that 175 workers would face leave without pay or redundancy.

The state and federal governments announced an emergency $3 million loan.

'Urgency' prompts meetings with government

White Oak's chairman wrote to the minister to discuss the smelter's future.

White Oak proposed scenarios to support the smelter's ongoing operations.

The minister was keen to meet with White Oak to discuss the matter.

On August 19, Mr Otte wrote again to arrange a meeting.

An in-person meeting was arranged for August 25th.

The minister requested an urgent briefing ahead of his meeting with Mr Otte.

Business, Industry and Resources minister Felix Ellis.

The ABC wrote to Mr Ellis seeking details of the proposed scenarios.

Mr Ellis and EY declined to comment at the time of writing.

Mr Ellis said the state government had been actively engaged with Liberty Bell Bay.

A range of scenarios and proposals were put to the government.

Professor Jason Harris said it wasn't a concern that the state government met with a secured lender.

University of Sydney professor Jason Harris is an expert in corporate and insolvency law.

I would expect these types of meetings to be going on.

This is a significant business in Tasmania with implications for the state's economy.

Liberty Bell Bay's previous owners claimed they couldn't restart operations due to supply problems.

The state government says its focus is 'backing Tasmanian workers and the Bell Bay community'.

The government provided financial support to allow ore to be acquired.

So it would seem that the business had other problems, not simply the lack of ore.

Professor Harris said the correspondence revealed White Oak's concerns.

The state government determined that GFG had defaulted on the loan.

Both EY and receivers Deloitte declined to comment.

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