Clive Palmer’s north Queensland nickel refinery ‘in state government hands’

Clive Palmer has put the onus on his failing nickel plant on the Qld government, and he avoided questions today.

Clive Palmer arriving in Brisbane today. Photographer: Liam Kidston

The future of Clive Palmer’s north Queensland nickel refinery remains in doubt after the mining magnate met with the state’s treasurer.

Curtis Pitt held urgent talks with Mr Palmer at the government’s executive building in Brisbane on Tuesday afternoon over the future of Queensland Nickel’s Yabulu refinery near Townsville.

Not only did Mr Palmer rush into the building once he saw waiting media, but he also convinced security once the meeting finished to let him out through a back door, where a Mercedes was waiting for him.

The hasty exit came after Queensland Nickel sent a letter to its 700-odd employees on Tuesday, warning the refinery could close if employees themselves didn’t join in to lobby the government for help.

In the letter, Managing Director Ian Ferguson warned them: “To do nothing, may see the refinery close.”

Before meeting with Mr Palmer, Mr Pitt said he was surprised he was threatening the refinery’s closure following months of assurances its future was safe.

“Let me be clear: any decision to close the Yabulu nickel plant will be the decision of Mr Palmer and his alone,” Mr Pitt said. “We want to find out the full state of affairs and have a sensible discussion about how this entity will remain viable into the future.”

Mr Pitt accused the mining magnate of issuing an ultimatum weeks before Christmas, putting employees’ futures in doubt.

It wasn’t clear exactly what Queensland Nickel was trying to get out of the meeting, with Managing Director Clive Mensink issuing a statement early on Tuesday accusing the government of supporting Boyne Smelters in Gladstone with $40 million a year, but refusing to support the Yabulu refinery.

Mr Mensink said the government “needs to give the same level of priority to the people of Townsville that it gives to the people of Gladstone”.

But he went on to say that Queensland Nickel wasn’t seeking any funds from the government, rather a “guarantee on a short term basis secured by more than a billion dollars of assets”.

Australian Workers Union Queensland Branch secretary Ben Swan said he’d held a meeting with Mr Palmer, among others, on Tuesday to discuss the need for government assistance to keep the Yabulu operation afloat.

Union representatives were told the deterioration of nickel prices had put pressure on the site but this was likely to improve with China planning to reduce output in the new year.

As such, any government help afforded to Queensland Nickel would be relatively short-term, Mr Swan understood.

Speculation the refinery could go into imminent administration came after Mr Palmer’s private company, Mineralogy, on Monday lost a bid to force millions of dollars in “outstanding royalty payments” from an estranged Chinese joint venture partner.

But others have suggested pleas to government for the future of the refinery is an elaborate bluff by company management.

AAP

Palmer holding state to ransom

Clive Palmer’s ailing nickel refinery is holding the Queensland government to ransom over the fate of the plant and its nearly 800 workers, after the businessman lost a crucial court bid yesterday.

Queensland Nickel’s managing director of operations, refinery and port Ian Ferguson wrote to all his employees late last night, after Mr Palmer’s cash-grab from the Chinese was rejected in a Western Australian court.

“The Queensland government gives $40m a year to Boyne Island in Gladstone, but they have not offered to help Queensland Nickel with a small guaranteed facility for 12 months to keep the refinery open,” Mr Ferguson wrote, in an email obtained by The Australian.

“We must all pull together to save the refinery from closure as its future rests in the hands of the Queensland government.”

“Help us make the state government realise we are the families faced with unemployment. The closure of the refinery will impact over 3000 families in the region. This will be catastrophic for Townsville and sink the city into a massive decline lasting up to a decade. We must act now to save our jobs.”

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the government had commissioned an independent report by KPMG into the operations of the company some months ago, but it was incomplete without Queensland Nickel opening its books. Mr Palmer’s nephew Clive Mensink – who runs the refinery – is in Brisbane and is believed to be meeting with the government shortly. Mr Palmer might also be in attendance.

But Townsville Labor MP Scott Stewart said the company’s “highly emotive” language would be disregarded by the government, which would continue to meet with the organisation.

“Clive Palmer should be digging into his pockets,” Mr Stewart said this morning.

Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill made a mercy dash to parliament in Brisbane last week to meet with Treasurer Curtis Pitt to discuss options to save the more than 770 refinery jobs.

Mr Palmer had threatened that if yesterday’s court decision did not go his way, and order an immediate payment from his estranged Chinese business partners, he would have to shut down the Yabulu refinery, sack all the workers and call in administrators.

That has not yet happened.