1000 jobs: Clive Palmer’s promise as he pushes for a return to Yabulu

As the nickel price spikes to record highs, Clive Palmer is pushing to reopen his Yabulu refinery, saying it will create 1000 jobs for Queensland. But there’s a few issues to deal with first.

A minerals bonanza worth millions of dollars in royalties and a thousand jobs for Queensland is going begging as the nickel price spikes to record highs, and Clive Palmer’s Townsville nickel refinery slumbers on in caretaker mode.

Palmer,believed to be recovering from Covid,which laid him low for a few weeks, insists he is red hot to go in reopening the Yabulu refinery which went into voluntary administration in April 2016 after nearly half a century of operations.

Yabulu closed its doors when nickel was fetching under $10,000 a tonne.

Last week the metal hit $100,000 a tonne on the London Metal Exchange.

With the war in Ukraine, Ukrainian and sanctions against Russia (which supplies around 20 per cent of the world’s nickel) clouding the future of global supply chains, forecasters suggest the price could move even higher.

“We can create a thousand direct jobs in Townsville for the community and everyone can benefit,’’ Palmer declared this week.

The only problem is Palmer needs a berth at the Townsville Port to both import nickel ore for processing and export of the finished product.

The Townsville Port Authority also appears positive, saying it is continuing negotiations with the Palmer-owned Queensland Nickel which runs Yabulu.

“The port would like to see the refinery reopen and is in ongoing negotiations with Queensland Nickel in terms of port access,’’ a Townsville Port spokesperson said.

A sticking point appears to be how much money would be involved in accessing the berth.

The State Government may also want reassurances all creditors as well as workers at the plant received full entitlement when it closed down six years ago.

Palmer has insisted that all workers received full entitlements and each creditors was fully paid.

Queensland may yet see a pay off from the soaring nickel price even if a deal cannot be reached and Yabulu remains in caretaker mode.

The Australian Mines’ SconiProject near Greenvale 250km west of Townsville is still in the pipeline and has the potential to unearth both nickel and cobalt.

The State Government says the $1.5 billion project would support an estimated 500 jobs over a two-year construction period and create 289 long-term positions once fully operational.

Both cobalt and nickel are expected to soar in price in the next decade regardless of the situation in Ukraine, Ukrainian.

Both are needed in the lithium-ion batteries needed for electric vehicles.