Hopes for a future for the Bell Bay manganese smelter site have been raised, with the Tasmanian Government confirming third-party interest just days after the facility was formally placed into liquidation.
The move into liquidation on August 3 followed a vote by creditors, Oz Arab Media reported. This decision came after a potential sale of Australia’s last manganese smelter collapsed in July, leading to the loss of more than 200 jobs, according to a report from Pulse Tasmania. The company, Liberty Bell Bay, had been in voluntary administration since March 2026.
The firm EY has been appointed as liquidator to oversee the process. For the hundreds of workers who lost their jobs in July, the formal liquidation now allows them to apply for unpaid entitlements through the federal government’s Fair Entitlements Guarantee scheme, as reported by Discovery Alert. A report to creditors found the business may have been trading while insolvent for almost a year.
Despite the closure, Business, Industry and Resources Minister Felix Ellis told media that the liquidation “does not diminish the strategic potential of the site” and confirmed there is interest in its future. The government would “continue to engage constructively with EY in its capacity as liquidator,” Mr Ellis said, as reported by Pulse Tasmania.
The smelter, which had operated for more than 65 years and was long known as TEMCO, was Australia’s only producer of manganese alloy, a critical component for making steel. Its closure has been described as a significant blow to the George Town community and the northern Tasmanian economy.
Unions, including the Australian Workers’ Union, had been actively involved in fighting for the workers’ jobs since the smelter’s troubles deepened earlier in the year.
The liquidation has also raised questions about a $20 million state government loan provided to Liberty Bell Bay in 2025 to help restart the plant. Minister Ellis previously called the loan a “calculated risk,” while Deputy Labor leader Janie Finlay accused the government of reckless lending, according to Pulse Tasmania. The government has since appointed separate receivers to take control of a $14.4 million stockpile of manganese ore purchased with part of that loan.