Nyrstar - Hobart

Acid Plant Database August 23, 2010

Owner	Nyrstar
Location	Risdon Road Lutana Tasmania 7009
Background	Formerly - Pasminco - Zinifex 2007 - Nystar today announced that as of 31 August 2007 it had taken ownership of the zinc and lead smelting and alloying assests of Umicore and Zinifex, thereby formally launching the company and creating the world’s largest zinc producer.
Website	www.nyrstar.com
Plant	-
Coordinates	42º 49' 52" S, 147º 18' 47" E
Type of Plant	Metallurgical
Gas Source	Zn Lurgi Roaster
Plant Capacity	571 MTPD
SA/DA	-
Status	Operating
Year Built	1992
Technology	Outotec (Lurgi)
Contractor	Outotec (Lurgi)
Remarks	2000 - Two gas/gas heat exchangers replaced by Chemetics (see picture) - Design of heat exchangers would facilitate the installation of a future DeNOx system
Pictures
General	Zinifex's Hobart Smelter is located on the western bank of the River Derwent in Hobart, Tasmania and uses the RLE process. All Hobart operations and residue stockpiles are located on this site which has a deepwater port with modern bulk handling equipment. Zinc smelting at Hobart dates back to November 1916 when a small pilot plant was built. Thereafter, it expanded rapidly and by the early 1920s, it was the world's largest zinc smelter. Today Hobart is one of the largest zinc operations in the world and produced more than 250,000 tonnes of zinc metal during 2003 as well as other associated metals and by-products. Its key products are SHG, CGG and EZDA. Hobart's strategy is based on exporting premium products to growing markets in Asia. Zinifex will seek to increase Hobart's EZDA producing capacity to around 215,000 tonnes per year whilst managing Zinifex's costs and seeking to leverage its competitive position as a major consumer of electricity. Hobart will also seek to increase the proportion of the concentrate it is able to treat from Century, an initiative Zinifex regards as essential in order to allow Port Pirie to meet its commitment to eliminate paragoethite residues by 2020. The initiative will also accelerate recovery of contained metal from historic on site by-product stockpiles. Operations Hobart sourced approximately 29% of its concentrate requirements from Rosebery and a further 10% from Century during 2003. Zinifex plans to increase Hobart's proportion of Century concentrates to 70% beyond 2007. Hobart is also integrated with the Port Pirie smelter, with the latter processing Hobart's paragoethite by-product as well as other leach product residues from historic stockpiles located on site. Due to Century's low iron content, Hobart's production of paragoethite will fall substantially as it increases the proportion of Century concentrates that it treats. This will free up processing capacity at Port Pirie and enable it to treat more of Hobart's historic leach product residues, which contain around 18% zinc compared to paragoethite's 17%. It will also assist in enabling Port Pirie to eliminate its paragoethite stockpiles by 2020. Production Hobart produces more than 250,000 tonnes of zinc metal per year, most of which are premium zinc alloy products. EZDA is Hobart's highest margin product of which, during 2003, it produced approximately 122,000 tonnes. Currently, the roaster limits production at Hobart. Zinifex has plans to increase production to 260,000 tonnes per year beyond 2005 through de-bottlenecking. Furthermore, it plans to increase EZDA production to 215,000 tonnes per year over approximately the next five years as part of its strategy of focusing on supplying high margin products into key growth markets. Hobart also produces more than 420,000 tonnes of high quality sulphuric acid per year and approximately 110,000 tonnes per year of paragoethite, which is shipped to Port Pirie for treatment. Port Pirie treats approximately 65% of this paragoethite, and stockpiles the remainder for later treatment. Hobart also produces approximately 28,000 tonnes of Lead Sulphate Leach Concentrate that is sold externally. Environmental Management The Hobart smelter Environmental Management System was recommended for ISO 14001 certification in October 2003. Despite the challenge of dealing with many historical and current environmental issues, Hobart has been recognised as a proactive environmental manager and has a strategy in place to eliminate stockpiles of a range of by-products and wastes and to manage contaminated storm water run-off and groundwater. A move to increase the proportion of concentrates it sources from Century will require additional SOx and NOx emission controls, but is an integral part of the Port Pirie by-product elimination plan. Capital Expenditure Hobart is expecting to spend around $50 million during 2004 and 2005, which includes $20 million for modifications necessary for Hobart to continuously process 70% of its concentrates from Century. Hobart plans to invest $1.9 million to increase its EZDA capacity to 185,000 tonnes in 2005 as the first stage of its plan to increase it to 215,000 tonnes.
References	-
News	July 22, 2010 - Production has resumed at Hobart's Nyrstar Zinc Works after a power surge triggered a shut down early this morning. Nearby residents were woken by sirens at the plant and reported seeing smoke and steam pouring from the smelter. One worker was taken to hospital affected by sulphur dioxide gas. Nyrstar's General Manager Jeremy Kouw says the cause of the power surge will be investigated this afternoon. "The initial priority is to get the process up and running again. We're doing that at the moment and once everything is re-established and operating again, we'll carry out the investigation to fully understand the trip this morning."

MTPD - Metric Tonne per Day STPD - Short Ton per Day
MTPA - Metric Tonne per Annum STPA - Short Ton per Annum
SA - Single Absorption
DA - Double Absorption

* Coordinates can be used to locate plant on Google Earth


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