Crossword Genius

Fish here in the middle refinery (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

smelter

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'refinery' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)

'fish here in the middle' is the wordplay.
'fish' becomes 'smelt' (smelt is a kind of fish).
'here in the middle' becomes 'er' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'smelt'+'er'='SMELTER'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for smelter that I've seen before include "Industrial plant for extracting metal by heat" , "One extracting metal from ore" , "Extractor of metal from ore" , "Industrial plan for extracting metals by heating" , "Place where metal is extracted from ore by heating" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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