Pasminco was established in 1988 when Conzinc Riotinto of Australia and North Broken Hill Peko merged their lead and zinc operations.^[1][2] In May 1998 the Emu Bay Railway, which hauled trains from Pasminco's zinc mine at Rosebery to Burnie, was sold to Australian Transport Network.^[3]

On 19 September 2001, Pasminco was placed in voluntary administration due to a combination of low commodities prices, high debt servicing costs, the adverse impact of a weak Australian dollar on its currency hedging position and a failure to secure appropriate financial accommodation from its financiers.^[4][5][6] In March 2002, its Broken Hill mining operations were sold to Perilya.^[7][8]

Remaining assets including mines in Mount Isa and Rosebery, and smelters in Budel (The Netherlands), Clarkesville (United States), Hobart and Port Pirie, were spun-off to a new entity, Zinifex, which was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in April 2004.^[9][10][11] Other assets including the Cockle Creek Smelter were wound down. The Cockle Creek Smelter was closed in September 2003 with the largest site remediation in Australia conducted over an 11-year period.^[12][13]

With this completed, in November 2014 administrator Ferrier Hodgson advised creditors they would receive 22 cents in the dollar.^[14]