News: COB UPDATE 1-Australian miner Cobalt Blue partners with Japan's Iwatani for refinery project

(Updates with details of refinery, background on Iwatani in paragraphs 2-4)

Dec 1 (Reuters) - Australia's Cobalt Blue (COB) said on Friday it will partner with Japanese oil and gas refiner Iwatani Corporation 8088.T in a bid to develop a cobalt-nickel refinery project in Western Australia.

The proposed refinery, which is located near Perth, Western Australia, will see a large-scale demonstration plant for test work of third-party material to support technical studies.

Cobalt Blue said it started a large-scale raw materials testing programme for the project and aims to trial up to 5-tonne samples from third-party suppliers.

Iwatani Corp is an oil and gas refining and marketing company that specialises in the production and trading of commodities.

The project will be based on Doral Fused Materials site, which is owned by Iwatani's Australian subsidiary.