Zinifex Port Pirie Smelter handed $50,000 to council chief executive officer Ian Burfitt as a contribution towards greening the project.

It will be used for mulching and landscaping the area, including trees, shrubs and gardens.

Smelter general manager Matt Howell said the donation was a dust-reducing strategy of the company’s ten by 10 project.

The funding will particularly benefit the new playground as it will be surrounded by landscaping, rather than dust and bare earth.

This will reduce the risk to children using the playground.

“We have two strategies - to minimise emissions and exposure - and greening is one of the key ways to minimise dust throughout the city,” Mr Howell said.

“This donation complements what council is doing. We want to make sure the area is not only clean but green.”

He described the foreshore redevelopment as a “fantastic initiative” .

“It is vibrant, it is progressive and it is growing and we want to be associated with that,” he said.

Mr Burfitt said the smelter had become a valuable partner in the redevelopment.

“It is pleasing the local major employer has an understanding of the importance of the project,” he said.

He said the smelter’s approach would make a huge difference to the project, particularly the area next to the playground.

“When you look at what it was before, a large, open unprotected area and it will be completely green and sealed – it won’t be a major dust area,” he said.

The development is expected to become a major icon and a drawcard for locals and

visitors alike.