Trafigura, the owners of Nyrstar, the Port Pirie multi-metals facility operators, met with Trade and Investment Minister Nick Champion in Singapore to discuss plans for a hydrogen manufacturing facility in South Australia.

Trafigura, one of the world's largest physical commodity trading companies, is exploring opportunities to progress a commercial scale green hydrogen manufacturing facility in Port Pirie with Nyrstar and the South Australian Government.

The proposed project could provide significant economic benefits to the state, including job opportunities in hydrogen manufacturing.

The full-scale plant would be able to meet both export and domestic supply needs by producing 100 tonnes of green hydrogen per day from a 440MW electrolyzer.

The oxygen produced during the hydrogen production process would be used by the Nyrstar Port Pirie smelter, and the project's electrolyser would be powered entirely by renewable energy, contributing to the decarbonization of the existing facility's power supply.

With a $2.5 million grant from the Jobs and Economic Growth Fund, the State Government accelerated the project's Front-End Engineering Design.

A net zero future necessitates significantly increased production and refining of aluminium, copper, and zinc in order to construct wind farms, solar farms, and other critical infrastructure.

South Australia has a strong resources sector and a world-leading lead, zinc, and copper refinery in Port Pirie, giving it the opportunity to benefit from rising global demand for energy transition metals through increased exports.

The State Government is collaborating with Nyrstar on opportunities for Port Pirie to extract additional critical minerals as part of the development of its Critical Minerals Strategy.