{"id":812450,"date":"2026-07-20T15:19:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T15:19:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/812450\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T15:19:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T15:19:17","slug":"liberty-bell-bay-workers-lose-jobs-as-smelter-closure-confirmed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/812450\/","title":{"rendered":"Liberty Bell Bay workers lose jobs as smelter closure confirmed"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than 200 workers at the Liberty Bell Bay smelter in northern Tasmania have lost their jobs after administrator EY confirmed the closure of the country\u2019s only manganese smelter.<\/p>\n

The workforce of 217 was handed formal redundancy papers at a midday meeting, ending more than a year of uncertainty.<\/p>\n

It brings the curtain down on more than 65 years of operations at the site, long known as Temco.<\/p>\n

Many of those affected come from families who have worked at the plant for generations.<\/p>\n

Bell Bay Advanced Manufacturing Zone chief executive Susie Bower said the reality was beginning to set in.<\/p>\n

\"\"Bell Bay Advanced Manufacturing Zone chief executive Susie Bower and Acting Premier Guy Barnett<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the end of a legacy really,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Bower said workers concerned about their entitlements should wait until they received their termination letter before starting a new job.<\/p>\n

Anyone who starts work after receiving the letter, she said, will retain their entitlements in full.<\/p>\n

A small crew will remain at the site for six to eight weeks to carry out maintenance.<\/p>\n

Staff are expected to receive details of their redundancy payouts within about 10 days, with payments due to begin around two weeks later.<\/p>\n

\"\"The site long known as Temco has been a major employer in George Town. Image \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

Any long service or annual leave accrued since administrators took over on March 23 will also be paid out.<\/p>\n

From tomorrow, the Northern Employment and Business Hub will run drop-in support sessions for two weeks at the George Town Library, with further sessions at Exeter, Legana, Beaconsfield and Launceston.<\/p>\n

Bower said private rooms would be available and staff could also visit workers at home.<\/p>\n

Workers can get help with resumes, retraining and finding new jobs.<\/p>\n

Up to $3,000 is available through the state government to renew qualifications or retrain, while about 40 construction roles are on offer through a Master Builders program.<\/p>\n

Acting Premier Guy Barnett said mental health support would be provided in the weeks ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur hearts and minds are with the workers and their families,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The closure follows months of efforts to find a buyer.<\/p>\n

A consortium told administrators last week it had abandoned the sale because of difficulties securing enabling arrangements, including a range of operating requirements.<\/p>\n

Barnett said the state government had \u201cthrown everything\u201d at keeping the smelter open.<\/p>\n

\"\"A total of 217 workers were handed formal redundancy papers at a midday meeting. Image \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

Unions and Labor disputed that. The Australian Workers\u2019 Union said workers had watched energy pricing be put ahead of jobs and the community.<\/p>\n

It said the closure would strip tens of millions of dollars from the northern Tasmanian economy.<\/p>\n

The Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union said the loss of manufacturing jobs would be deeply felt.<\/p>\n

Deputy Labor leader Janie Finlay said the government had failed to secure a viable electricity deal.<\/p>\n

She said the priority must now be ensuring workers received every entitlement and all available assistance.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday is a devastating day for Liberty Bell Bay workers, contractors, their families and the entire northern Tasmanian community,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than 200 workers at the Liberty Bell Bay smelter in northern Tasmania have lost their jobs after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":812451,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":["post-812450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812450","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=812450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812450\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/812451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=812450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=812450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=812450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}