The National Party has pledged it will keep the Tiwai Point Aluminium Smelter running for at least five more years - if it is elected in October.
The clock is already ticking down to the closure of the smelter near Bluff after owner Rio Tinto released plans to shut it next August, ending its contract with Meridian Energy.
But National Party leader, Judith Collins, told an enthusiastic Southland crowd she's confident a commercial deal could be reached, preventing more than two thousand job losses across the region.
Tess Brunton filed this report.
