Skip to main content

Sulphur 420 Sep-Oct 2025

19 September 2025

Glencore prepares to idle Queensland smelter and refinery

AUSTRALIA

Glencore prepares to idle Queensland smelter and refinery

Mining giant Glencore says it has no choice but to start work on placing the loss-making Mount Isa copper smelter and Townsville refinery in Australia into care and maintenance until market conditions improve. The company expects to report a A$2.2 billion (US$1.44 billion) loss from the operations between 2025 and 2031.

“To date Glencore has been absorbing losses hopeful that a viable solution could be found,” interim chief operating officer Tony Wilson wrote in a memo to staff and quoted by local media. “However, we are fast reaching the point at which Glencore cannot continue to absorb these losses.” As many as 17,000 jobs are said to be at risk.

Talks with the state and central governments have failed to produce a support package which the Switzerland-based company considers as acceptable. However, senior executive Suresh Vadnagra said shutting down would be a last resort and the company is open to taxpayers taking a big equity stake in the operations.

“Time is running out. We have been engaging with the government for the past five months. We need to know in the coming weeks whether there is a viable solution on the table from governments or whether we start planning to transition the copper smelter and refinery into care and maintenance,” he said.

The separate, planned closure of Mount Isa copper mine is taking place this year. Glencore announced in 2023 it would end mining after 60 years of operation because the remaining mineral resources are no longer economically viable due to low ore grades and challenging geological conditions making safe extraction impossible to achieve with current technology.

Latest in Industrial

Aurubis completes major maintenance at Pirdop plant

Aurubis says that it has successfully completed scheduled maintenance at its Pirdop plant on time. The two-month operation marked the largest planned maintenance shutdown at the site in the past 30 years. With an investment of €115 million, Aurubis says the work ensures the long-term reliability and performance of the facility. Key upgrades included a full overhaul of the flash smelter, replacement of two electrostatic precipitators, and a major modernisation of the sulphuric acid production line. This modernisation involved installing a new converter and replacing six heat exchangers.

Lyten acquires Northvolt

Lyten, a global leader in lithium-sulphur batteries has entered into a binding agreement to acquire Northvolt’s assets in Sweden and Germany. The acquisition includes Northvolt Ett and, Northvolt Labs in Sweden and Northvolt Drei in Germany. Additionally, Lyten is acquiring all remaining Northvolt intellectual property. The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. In total, Lyten’s acquisition includes assets valued at approximately $5 billion, including 16 GWh of existing battery manufacturing capacity, more than 15 GWh of capacity under construction, the infrastructure and plans to scale to more than 100 GWh, and the largest and most advanced battery R&D centre in Europe.