Jacinda Ardern, the prime minister of New Zealand, has promised yesterday (September 28) that she will negotiate with Rio Tinto, striving to postpone the closure of New Zealand's Aluminium Smelter (NZAS) from the scheduled August 2021 by another three to five years.
The New Zealand's general election will be held on October 17, 2020. Jacinda Ardern stressed that she sought the extension of NZAS’s life was to strive for the time to develop new industries in the southernmost region.