RIP Port Kembla Stack

The 200 metre tall Southern Copper Stack was demolished today.

The stack was built by ER&S in 1965 as an FU gesture after continuous complaints by local residents about pollution, "You want a stack? We'll give you a f@#$ing stack". It was much taller than necessary but still much cheaper than actually doing anything about the noxious gases the plant emitted over Port Kembla since opening in 1908. The stack allowed the company to spread the toxic fumes from their copper smelter further and wider over the Illawarra.



I worked at ER &S for 6 months in 1980, nearly the whole time I worked there I never received a full week's pay because of lockouts or strikes. Workers were regularly tested for lead levels in their blood and when it exceeded a certain value they were moved to a different part of the plant. It produced copper, lead, silver and other metals from copper ore.

It became Southern Copper and industrial relations did improve but finally closed a couple of decades ago, It is not missed.

ER & S stood for Electrolytic Refining and Smelting Company but it was always know locally as Eat, Rest and Sleep.