Jobs hope rises from ashes of Clive Palmer’s refinery

Workers sacked from Clive ­Palmer’s Townsville ­refinery have been given hope from a company founded by former employees.

Workers sacked from Clive ­Palmer’s troubled Townsville ­refinery have been given fresh hope from a company founded by former Queensland Nickel ­employees wanting to build a state-of-the-art ore-processing plant in the city.

The announcement came as Mr Palmer, who is campaigning to win the Townsville-based seat of Herbert for his revived political party, was savaged by Tony ­Abbott as a merchant of “spiv politics” trying to buy power through expensive advertising campaigns.

Pure Minerals Limited yesterday announced it would acquire a smaller company, Queensland Pacific Metals, with the aim of building a $300 million “demonstration plant” that would directly create 400 permanent jobs from late 2021. A full-scale plant would cost up to $1.3 billion and employ as many as 750 people.

QPM’s John Downie, formerly Queensland Nickel’s director of projects, said the new venture was a “conservative” attempt to help turn Townsville into a global ­exporter of chemicals used in batteries without preying on people’s hope.

“Just presenting truthfully and soundly the differences and the benefits of taking this approach is going to differentiate us (from Queensland Nickel) quite reasonably,” he told The Australian.

After Mr Palmer last month spent more than $1m on TV and radio advertising, Mr Abbott warned voters not to fall for Mr Palmer’s big-spending self-promotion campaign.

“I don’t think we need to see spiv politics coming back to Canberra and that’s what we’d get if Clive Palmer effectively bought his way back into politics,” the former prime minister told 2GB.

“If you want to see decent politics, and not spiv politics, ignore the advertisements that Clive Palmer is running with money that really belongs to the workers of the nickel refinery who were dudded of their entitlements because this bloke didn’t pay them.”

Liquidators are trying to claw back hundreds of millions of dollars owed to Queensland Nickel creditors, including the federal government, which is owed ­almost $70m after it stepped in to cover workers’ unpaid entitlements. Mr Palmer, who did not ­return calls, has previously denied owing workers anything and suggested to The Courier-Mail that he may sue the former prime minister for defamation.

Mr Downie said the laterite ­refinery would use a new, greener technology being trialled by the CSIRO in Western Australia that produced dry, stackable tailings rather than pouring waste into a dam.

The laterite, a source of nickel, would be sourced from New Caledonia, using contacts Mr Downie and his colleagues forged while sourcing ore for Mr Palmer’s Yabulu refinery.

“We’re not naive enough to say there’s not risks with developing new technology, but we’re starting out very small,” Mr Downie said.