Cockle Creek Smelter was azinc andlead smelter located at the northern end ofLake Macquarie near Boolaroo in Newcastle, New South Wales. The smelter was built in by the Sulphide Corporation in 1896 and the first attempts to refine zinc using theAshcroft Process began in 1897 but that process was abandoned shortly after due to technical difficulties.
The plant was subsequently adapted to smeltLead using blast furnace technology. The smelter produced large quantities of Zinc, Lead andsulfuric acid during its life. The Cockle Creek Smelter was one of theHunter regions first major industrial site and its operation contributed to the economic growth of New South Wales andAustralia.
Other materials were produced at the smelter to fill the need as required such asCement,Superphosphate and compounds for explosive manufacture for the war effort inWorld War I andWorld War II.
A rail connection was made from the plant to theNewcastle line on 16 July 1896.[1] The smelter closed in September 2003, since it had become uneconomic.
It is now hoped COSTCO & IKEA will open Bulk Retail Sales Warehouses on the site.(https://www.lakesmail.com.au/story/6350365/state-snaps-up-pasminco-site/)
The operation of thePasminco smelter for over a century resulted insoil contamination of surrounding areas such asBoolaroo,Argenton andSpeers Point by lead and other heavy metals.[2] During the last decades of its operation local opposition to the pollution produced by its activities began to develop but was stymied by skillfulpublic relations which emphasized the economic benefits which accrued to the local community.[3] Following cessation of its operations due to insolvency and appointment of the insolvency practitionerFerrier Hodgson as voluntary administrator in September 2001 under theCorporations Act 2001[4] there wasenvironmental remediation of the site of smelter and nearby properties with some buyouts and teardowns; aid in removing 5 centimeters of contaminated soil was extended to 18 adjoining landowners with contamination of 2,500 parts per million or more of lead.[5] This partial cleanup was signed off on by the state government which in 2008 released Pasminco from a 1995 requirement that adjoining properties with lead levels above 600 parts per million be remediated, substituting a much less stringent "lead abatement strategy"[5] (There is no mechanism in Australia analogous to theSuperfund mechanism in the United States).[6] Much of the soil in the surrounding area remainshazardous waste, however, and could not be deposited in a localtip. Pasminco was restructured in 2002 by Ferrier Hodgson, its voluntary administrator, asZinifex.[7] Zinifex was merged intoOZ Minerals,[8] then purchased by the Chinese state-ownedChina Minmetals, which then, with Australian participation, formedMinerals and Metals Group. The successor in interest to Pasminco has apparently been able to avoid continuing legal liability by virtue of skillful legal structuring of the transaction transferring the interest.[3] As of 2014 a total of $670 million remained in the hands of Ferrier Hodgson, Pasminco's administrator which, on the basis of completion of the cleanup, is slated to be paid to its creditors.[8]
really slick public relations job
The planning department agreed tosurrender the condition and instead accept aLead Abatement Strategy in 2008, government documents show
a failure to regulate and enforce world's best practice
Under the restructuring plan, the creditors will first move to near 100 per cent ownership of Pasminco under a controversial debt-for-equity swap that will leave the company essentially debt free.
Ferrier Hodgson told the Herald this month that remediation of the site was almost complete and that Pasminco's creditors – the banks owed $2.6billion – would get 22¢ in the dollar, or about $670 million.
32°56′52″S151°37′34″E / 32.94778°S 151.62611°E /-32.94778; 151.62611