Tiwai Point aluminium smelter employee Mike Dowling has been working at the smelter in Bluff for just under 40 years and loves his job.

But he is among an estimated 2600 people who will soon be out of work when the aluminium smelter closes down next August. 

The owners of the New Zealand Aluminium Smelter, Rio Tinto, announced last week it would close the smelter by August 2021, citing expensive electricity costs and lower global aluminium prices for the closure.

The smelter is a huge consumer of electricity, using 13% of New Zealand's power supply, and many people predict the closure will deliver a huge blow to Southland’s economy.

Mr Dowling works in the reduction area of the smelter, where the raw materials are melted down to produce the aluminium. 

He said even though the closure of the smelter has been on the cards for a while, it's still been hard to come to terms with.

The staff were notified of the closure on Thursday via a bulk text.

Mr Dowling said the pay and work-life balance that the job has offered has been a major bonus and wonders where he will be able to find another job which can give him those same perks.

"I work two twelve-hour days and two twelve-hour nights and then have four days off," he said. 

"Over the years, this company has not only been good to me, it's been good for me and my family...it has given me a hell of a good lifestyle." 

He said he's not sure what work he will be able to find now, seeing as so many businesses will be affected by the smelter closing. 

"The closure will have a spin-off effect.... so many other small businesses will be closing. People say, 'oh just go drive a truck,' but you're gonna have hundreds of truck drivers unemployed [now]," he said.

E tū negotiation specialist Joe Gallagher says the knock-on effect of the closure will be “huge” and is calling for a 'just transition' period for the workers.

He said workers at Tiwai can earn between $80,000-$100,000, and sometimes more depending on what department they work in.

"Tiwai is one of the biggest employers in Invercargill. Transitioning from that salary will be difficult. It will pretty tough to replicate their income [elsewhere, doing a similar job]," he said. 

Mr Gallagher said finding that income would be hard for some employees, who still have their mortgages to pay and children to feed. 

He said E tu is lobbying the government to provide more support to the workers.

The closure would see $400 million dollars disappear from the economy, Mr Gallagher said.

The smelter at Tiwai Point employs about 1000 people and indirectly creates another 1600 jobs.

Mr Dowling said he's not so worried about losing his job as he is nearing retirement, but he said younger employees with families would not find it so easy to take such a hit in income. 

He predicted more young people would move out of Invercargill in search of better prospects in bigger cities. 

Mr Dowling’s colleague in the reduction section, who wished to remain anonymous, said he's gutted to lose his job but hopes there will be some work for him with the clean-up of the smelter. 

"They'll be a certain point where we'll have to stop bringing material in, maybe around March next year. It's business as usual until then."

"I'll probably hang around for a few years, getting it back to scrub."

"I don't really want to go anywhere else, but unfortunately I'm still young enough that I've got a fair bit away from retirement."

He said he loves his job and the lifestyle that it has given him, as it’s enabled him to be mortgage-free and travel regularly overseas. 

He said there's nowhere else in Invercargill he could work doing a similar thing and earn the same money.