Port Pirie, Australia, 17 February 2026 – International producer of critical and strategic metals Nyrstar, today announced the first shipment of Australian\u2011produced commercial-grade Antimony metal from its Port Pirie multi\u2011metals facility, marking a milestone in the nation\u2019s efforts to build and strengthen mine-to-metal supply chains for critical minerals.<\/p>\n
This inaugural shipment from the Demonstration Plant marks an important step in establishing an independent and sovereign supply of Antimony metal from Australia, a critical metal used in defence, semiconductors, energy and automotive industries globally. The first shipment will be used by an Australian domestic manufacturer on the east coast of Australia with future shipments destined for export to customers in Europe, Asia or the US, supporting a more diverse and resilient supply chain for strategic materials.<\/p>\n
This new product has been enabled by rapid construction and commissioning of Nyrstar\u2019s Antimony pilot and demonstration plants, allowing Australia to produce Antimony metal from a wide range of local and global concentrates, leveraging Port Pirie\u2019s existing multi-metals processing infrastructure and capabilities.<\/p>\n
The accelerated delivery of Nyrstar\u2019s Antimony demonstration plant was supported by the Australian and South Australian Governments, ensuring the first batches of Antimony metal could be produced and shipped well ahead of schedule.<\/p>\n
Darin Cooper, Nyrstar Port Pirie General Manager, said today\u2019s milestone highlights the strategic role Port Pirie and Australia can play in helping global markets with an alternative, reliable and transparent supply of critical minerals.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first shipment of Antimony metal from Port Pirie demonstrates the importance of investing in nationally strategic smelters. Mining alone doesn\u2019t create supply chain security – it\u2019s the smelting, refining and conversion into critical metals that ensures Australia can play a strategic role for itself and its allies,\u201d Mr Cooper said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAntimony metal is essential for modern societies, and global customers have been increasingly seeking secure supply from trusted sources. Nyrstar at Port Pirie is responding to the challenge, demonstrating that mine-to-metals capability in Australia is possible, and with the support of government can be delivered at speed and scale.\u201d Mr Cooper said.<\/p>\n
As Australia\u2019s only lead refiner, Nyrstar\u2019s Port Pirie multi-metals facility will have the potential capacity to produce up to 5,000 tonnes of Antimony metal per annum, representing approximately 15% of the global market and the equivalent of nearly 100% of US imports in 2023. Nyrstar will continue to work closely with Federal and State Governments and commercial partners to secure support for this potential expansion and modernisation of its Australian assets.<\/p>\n
Nyrstar\u2019s production of Antimony at Port Pirie was identified last year in the pipeline of critical minerals projects as part of the US\u2013Australia Critical Minerals Framework, and Antimony is a priority mineral for the Australian Government\u2019s Strategic Reserve. Antimony is recognised as a key metal at risk requiring urgent new supply pathways and Nyrstar is also in discussions with organisations across Japan, Europe and the United States on formal offtake partnerships for long\u2011term supply.<\/p>\n
In addition to Antimony production, with government support Nyrstar is also exploring the potential to produce Bismuth and Tellurium at Port Pirie, as well as Germanium at its Hobart Zinc Works.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Port Pirie, Australia, 17 February 2026 – International producer of critical and strategic metals Nyrstar, today announced the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485620,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[48445,64,63,195937,44,39182,39183],"class_list":["post-485619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-antimony","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-critical-metals","tag-news","tag-nyrstar","tag-port-pirie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485619\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}