Temporary pause to continue at local mines, company says

By Eddie West Staff Writer

More than a year after Nyrstar’s Middle Tennessee Mines were placed on “temporary pause” there’s no indication as to when the company might resume operations, according to company officials.

“We have no updates on our Middle Tennessee Mines business. The temporary pause in operations is ongoing until further notice,” was the company’s official statement when asked when operations at the mines might resume.

The last day for hundreds of employees at the Middle Tennessee Mines was November 30, 2023, making the official first day of the temporary pause December 1, 2023.

Nyrstar’s Middle Tennessee Mines is based in Gordonsville with operations in Carthage and Elmwood.

At the time of the temporary pause in operations, the company said, “work would resume as soon as it is economically viable or once the proposed gallium and germanium production capacity at Nyrstar Clarksville comes on line in the next few years”.

Concerning the “proposed gallium and germanium production in Clarksville”, the company officials said, “On Nyrstar’s ‘Critical Minerals Project’, we continue to work on and evaluate the business case of a proposed state-of-the-art germanium and gallium recovery and processing facility at our Clarksville zinc smelter in Tennessee”.

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