Clive Palmer keeps everyone guessing on nickel refinery ownership

Is the controversial Queensland Nickel refinery, worth an estimated $1.5 billion, still owned by mining and property magnate Clive Palmer?

Palmer, who is worth $24 billion, won’t say.

“Mr Palmer will make an announcement when he is ready,” a spokesman for the billionaire said.

Magnate Clive Palmer.Credit: AAP

The Queensland government Treasury and the state’s Environment and Science Department confirmed that if the refinery, located near Townsville, had changed hands, they were not aware. Nor was Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill aware of any change.

And yet, an obscure Swiss group, Zero Carbon Investek, lists the nickel and cobalt refinery, also known as the Yabulu refinery, as one of “two projects” it is developing.

“Zero Carbon Investek is developing Yabulu to minimise greenhouse gas emissions and draw on solar energy,” the group’s website says. “The plant will then be positioned as a major supplier of sustainably sourced nickel and cobalt products, fuelling the battery industry and supporting up to 800 local jobs. With existing resources in-situ, and a production capacity of 53.5 kilo tonnes per annum of nickel and 3.7 kilo tonnes per annum of cobalt, the site is a key strategic asset in establishing clean and green supply chains for the battery market.”

Last December, Palmer revealed he had entered an agreement to sell the refinery to Zero Carbon Investek, which has its legal headquarters in Zurich. The Swiss group, founded in 2021, has less than $1 million in share capital. Its directors are Swiss-based Australian David Rigoll, Dubai-based Irish national Diarmuid Clohessy and lawyer Hans Frey.

At the time the agreement was announced with Palmer, Zero Carbon Investek said a syndicate, led by Richard Petty, a former CPA Australia president and director, was raising the money for Zero Carbon Investek to buy the refinery, on which the deal appeared contingent.

Zero Carbon Investek also said it would invest a further $US800 million ($1.24 billion) in a solar energy project to power the refinery. The latter is the second project listed on the Zero Carbon Investek’s website.

Petty, who was last known to be living in Hong Kong, is not mentioned on the website, and did not respond to calls and messages. Rigoll told this masthead he had invited Petty to come and “join the joyride” on the deal.

In Zero Carbon Investek’s fundraising document, the company claimed the value of the nickel, cobalt and iron in the refinery’s tailings dam could be retrieved and worth as much as $US9.4 billion ($14.6 billion). It is a figure that Rigoll also claimed but which has not been corroborated elsewhere.

In the fundraising document, Indian Ocean Capital and Green Bond Corporation were cited as advisers on the project. Domenic Martino is chairman of Indian Ocean Group and a long-term adviser to Clive Palmer.

In July, Zero Carbon Investek registered an Australian subsidiary, and its address is the same as Martino’s Indian Ocean Group.

A director of Zero Carbon Investek Australia is Perth-based adviser Alec Pismiris.

In a separate matter, Pismiris has been caught up in a controversy involving The Market Herald (TMH), owner of Gumtree and HotCopper websites, where he was non-executive chairman. The Takeovers Panel had made adverse findings against TMH, and found there were numerous contraventions of the Corporations Act.

Pismiris and Martino did not respond to interview requests.

The Queensland Nickel refinery was placed into voluntary administration in 2016, laying off almost 800 workers. It then went into liquidation, and a six-year legal battle ensued between Palmer’s companies and the liquidator, involving, by some estimates, almost 100 separate pieces of litigation. Creditors of the refinery have since been paid in full.

The Queensland Nickel refinery, 25 kilometres north-west of Townsville.Credit: Glenn Hunt

The refinery has been in care and maintenance mode since. Earlier this year, it was granted approval from the state government-owned Port of Townsville to begin importing and exporting nickel product.

However, two sources with knowledge of the port’s activities, who could only speak on condition of anonymity, confirmed that no ore had been imported or exported since that approval. Before it resumes operation, the refinery also has to show it has met a number of environmental conditions and approvals.

The Queensland Environment and Science Department confirmed it had not been contacted by any new owner of the refinery.

The Foreign Investment Review Board also declined to comment on whether it had received an application from Zero Carbon Investek’s Swiss parent.

“The Australian government reviews foreign investment proposals on a case-by-case basis to ensure they are not contrary to the national interest,” a spokesman for the federal Treasury said. “We do not comment on the application of screening arrangements as they apply or could apply to specific cases.”

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