The Works were badly hit by the 1967 bush fires and with falling demand for carbide and multimillion-dollar losses from plant failure in 1979 , the carbide smelter was sold to Pioneer Silicon Industries Pty Ltd . This company converted it to a silicon smelter with a theoretical capacity of 10,000 tonnes/yr , and produced metallurgical grade silicon " metal " from 1988 . However , it was never able to make a profit and in August 1991 , the plant was finally closed
1967 bush fires
1967 Tasmanian fires
Electrona, Tasmania