Industry and Employment
The main industries are the smelting of metals, and the operation of silos to hold grain. The silos have been closed.
Port Pirie's main employer is Nyrstar Limited, which operates the largest lead smelter/refinery in the southern hemisphere. A lead smelter has been operating in Port Pirie since the 1880s, and high blood lead levels in the local population are an ongoing concern. The Stack, which can be seen miles away, is 205 metres tall, and is the tallest structure in the state. In 2006 Zinifex formed a joint venture with Umicore to create Nyrstar, which owns the smelter, with the intention that it would eventually be an entity separate from the parent companies.
Flinders Industrial, a new industrial estate, is currently in its second stage and is planned to be home to the new council depot. There were plans to build a sulphuric acid plant for the benefit of the Nyrstar Smelter, but this project has been shelved and deemed not feasible.
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“The boatmen appeared to lead an easy and contented life, and we thought that we should prefer their employment ourselves to many professions which are much more sought after. They suggested how few circumstances are necessary to the well-being and serenity of man, how indifferent all employments are, and that any may seem noble and poetic to the eyes of men, if pursued with sufficient buoyancy and freedom.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)