Outotec has agreed with Nyrstar, a global integrated mining and metals company, to provide Outotec® Ausmelt technology to the Port Pirie redevelopment in South Australia. Outotec will provide a technology licence, engineering, proprietary equipment and advisory services for the redevelopment of Nyrstar Port Pirie into an advanced metals recovery and refining facility. The order has been booked in Outotec’s 2014 second quarter order intake with the contract value remaining confidential.
Nystar’s Port Pirie Facility in South Australia
Nyrstar’s Port Pirie smelter has been in continuous operation since 1889, with many of the core production assets having been in service for up to 60 years. While considered the best practice at the time, these assets are no longer capable of meeting the increasingly stringent environmental and operational standards expected of a modern base metals facility. Outotec® Ausmelt technology will be used to upgrade the facility to an advanced poly-metallic processing and recovery facility capable of processing a wide range of high value, high margin raw materials with improved environmental footprint and reduced airborne metal and dust emissions. Specifically Outotec technology will replace the outdated sinter plant with a state-of-the-art oxygen enriched bath smelting furnace.
The redeveloped facility will produce the current range of metals including lead, zinc oxide, gold, silver, and copper. However, the application of Outotec’s high temperature top submerged lance (TSL) bath smelting technology will allow a wider range of raw materials to be processed. The increased furnace flexibility will allow Nyrstar Port Pirie to process a wider range of high value and high margin concentrates and residues from Nyrstar’s existing smelters.
“We are very pleased that Nyrstar has chosen Outotec’s sustainable smelting technology for their redevelopment project. It demonstrates Nyrstar’s commitment to operating a global environmentally sustainable integrated metals business”, says Robin Lindahl, head of Outotec’s Metals, Energy & Water business area.
