The British company Natrium Redox is offering to acquire the Liberty Bell Bay plant in Tasmania
The British green technology company Natrium Redox Technologies has offered to acquire the Liberty Bell Bay manganese alloy plant in northern Tasmania, which is currently in liquidation. The company has been in talks with the Tasmanian and Australian state governments regarding its project since March, according to ABC News Australia.
Liberty Bell Bay is Australia’s only manganese alloy plant. The 66-year-old facility was placed under external administration in March due to financial problems faced by its former owner, Sanjiv Gupta’s GFG Alliance. Subsequently, a deal with a consortium that included the U.S. investment firm White Oak fell through, the plant was shut down, and about 200 employees lost their jobs.
Creditors voted to liquidate Liberty Bell Bay, and EY Parthenon was appointed as the liquidator. Tasmanian Minister of Industry Felix Ellis stated that he had written to EY requesting that it properly consider all credible proposals through a market test. According to him, the decision on the facility’s future will ultimately be made by the liquidator.
Ellis also reported that last week, together with the federal treasurer, he appealed to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission to support the liquidators in investigating the actions of GFG Alliance and, if necessary, to recover assets or enforce collection.
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Bill Higgs, CEO of Natrium Redox Technologies, said the company is considering two options. The first involves restarting the traditional furnaces and establishing a manganese processing plant. According to him, the plant could process between 35,000 and 70,000 metric tons per year, which would increase manganese production at the site by 20–40%. Such a project could eventually provide jobs for more than 220 people.
The second option involves processing approximately 20,000 metric tons of waste already on site to extract metals from slag and fine ore residues. Higgs stated that the Natrium Redox technology allows for the production of high-purity manganese without CO2 emissions by using sodium instead of coke. Under this scenario, about 14 people could be employed initially.
Higgs estimates that approximately 30 million Australian dollars are needed to launch the project. He proposed that the state and federal governments jointly provide 15 million dollars, with Natrium Redox financing the remainder. The company also seeks access to the power supply agreement between Hydro Tasmania and Liberty Bell Bay and wants the site’s environmental obligations to be waived. Higgs estimated that if the site were abandoned or transferred to a new owner with the obligations waived, cleanup costs could amount to about 200 million dollars.
