I dont think anyone can say. I know that QPM management who worked for QNI up until 2009 are aware of its potential and composition up until that point. I wont speculate what has been added to the tailing dam after that. The Tailing like the rest of yabulu is currently in the courts. I am of the opinion that the QLD government wants this project badly. 1. to help rejuvenate townsville 2. To clean up the environmental mess that Clive has left (see 2nd article below). Perpetual_uncertainty stated previously, that the dam is seeping ammonia into the great barrier reef which sits a few hundred meters away. DNi and Pm1 can clear that up.
I have linked some articles regarding the tailings below for your perusal
https://www.i-q.net.au/main/cobalt-rich-tailings-offer-new-opportunity-for-yabulu
also there was an article in Townsville Bulletin which I've copied below.
CSIRO tests step forward for new Townsvillenickel refinery powering booming electric car industry
CASGARVEY, Townsville Bulletin
anhour ago
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ANICKEL refinery poised to bring hundreds jobs to Townsville is hoping to securecontracts with the likes of Samsung, Panasonic and Tesla to supply material tomake electric car batteries.
This week, the refinery moveda step forward after testing from CSIRO revealed the best way to manufacturehigh purity battery-grade nickel and cobalt sulphate.
Queensland Pacific Metals islooking to develop a $300 million Stage 1 plant near Yabulu in 2020, producing25,000 tonnes of nickel sulphate and 3000 tonnes of cobalt sulphate bymid-2021.
A larger scale plant wouldproduce 130,000 tonnes of nickel sulphate and 25,000 tonnes of cobalt sulphate,employing up to 800 people.
QPM commissioned Australia’sleading research group CSIRO to test a factory design and sample product tocontinue discussions with potential buyers.
Second Nickel plant proposednear existing refinery
Townsville’s future as a hubfor the manufacture of batteries
QPM executive director JohnDownie will travel to New Caledonia this weekend to meet with the suppliers ofthe nickel ore the Townsville factory will use as feedstock.
“I’m there until Wednesday;we’re going to have our regular meeting with our suppliers and working group sowe discuss how things are going at their end and firming up some of the detailsof the Memorandum of Understandings we have with them and inspecting theirmines,” Mr Downie said.
“It’s quite an importantthing to do, Australia is very much up the list of preferred exportdestinations for all so we want to make sure that continues and they want toknow what we want to achieve.”
The CSIRO Research Facility in Perth,Western Australia where they’re testing the process for Townsville’s new nickelrefinery. Photo: Supplied
MrDownie said the results of CSIRO’s recent testing was “developing confidence”in the new refinery project.
“CSIRO have just confirmedthe process to say ‘this is the optimum approach’ so we can finish thefeasibility study,” he explained.
“What we now have to do iswhen we go to the final step of the feasibility study we’ll run 80 tonnes fromNew Caledonia through the first part of the plant using recommendations fromthe CSIRO to make five or six thousand tonnes to ship it off to potentialoff-takers to sign up long-term contracts.”
Mr Downie expects to get “aconditional sign-off” from offtake partners by mid-2020 and then firm long-termcontracts shortly after with two or three major companies.
“We’re looking at the majorbattery manufacturers; over in the EU where they have targets saying 70% of thecars they produce by 2025 have to be electric — but to do that you need toincrease the quality of metal sulphate being produced around the world,” hesaid.
“So the people that aremaking these batteries like Panasonic in Japan, Samsung in Korea, Huawei inChina and then over in Europe and US like Tesla that are leading the way withthese major battery plants.”
In terms of job creation inNorth Queensland, Mr Downie said the first stage of the plant would create 150permanent jobs, with a number of other roles within port operations, truckingand product handling.
Once the refinery gets to thestage of being able to produce other metals like iron, magnesium and manganesethe employment opportunities would increase, with potentially up to an800-strong workforce.
“There’s very experiencedpeople in Townsville in this industry and we’re quite fortunate to be able totap into that knowledge,” Mr Downie said.
“As much as this is anopportunity (for jobseekers in Townsville) it’s also an opportunity for us tofind those people who can hit the ground running.”
