Hi Teddy
the cost to ship from NC to Townsville is between $8-12usd per wmt. Note that they will be doing this on scale ie the whole ship.
There is roughly $240usda tonne in nickel and cobalt in a tonne of ore so plenty of margin there. The fact that the plant is to be in Townsville helps too in that it's easier to move final product
BHP and Clive imported ore from NC for years. for much of the time they made a MHP product too which sells at a discount to container nickel. Whilst sulphate sells at a premium