Nickel refinery ‘breach’ adds to Clive Palmer woes

Clive Palmer’s nickel refinery has been accused of recklessly breaking environmental rules.

Clive Palmer’s Queensland Nickel is expected to argue that an overflow was inevitable at its north Queensland mine after two cyclones in the 2013-14 wet season. Picture: Kym Smith

Clive Palmer’s nickel refinery has been accused of recklessly breaking environmental rules and ­allowing a dam full of contaminated water to overflow during a cyclone last year.

Queensland Nickel is being prosecuted in Townsville Magistrates Court for wilfully breaching its environmental auth­ority at its north Queensland site.

The court case could not come at a worse time for Mr Palmer and his cash-strapped refinery, which was bracing last night for hundreds of job losses.

Jeff Hunter QC, for Queensland’s Department of ­Environ­ment and Heritage Protection, yesterday told a committal hearing the company allegedly poorly managed a tailings dam containing wastewater for months, recklessly taking risks ahead of the 2013-14 wet season. No environmental damage was caused, but the spill into an effluent pond in April 2014 was “specifically prohibited” by the government-­issued envi­ron­mental authority and should never have occurred.

Mr Palmer met departmental officials as early as September 2012 to discuss water management at the site, but by the end of 2013, the court heard, there were still problems with the tailings dam.

A byproduct of the refinery is water contaminated with chemicals and fine particles. The wastewater is kept in a tailings dam, which must have enough capacity to cope with heavy wet seasons.

In February last year, Cyclone Dylan hit Townsville, bringing 200mm of rain and filling the tailings dam. The company reported the problem to the department. In April, Cyclone Ita hit. The tailings dam overflowed into the effluent pond, releasing up to 21 megalitres each day. “It’s simply a breach of the environmental authority,” Mr Hunter said.

The company installed large fans to help evaporate the waste­water, a measure Mr Hunter said should have been taken much ­earlier to prevent the spill in the first place. He said two cyclones in such proximity was not unheard of for a wet season in north Queensland.

Queensland Nickel is fighting the charges. It is expected to argue the overflow was inevitable after two cyclones in the 2013-14 wet season. The hearing continues.