The Cook Government will offer royalty relief to Western Australia's crucial nickel industry, supporting thousands of local jobs as well as the State's vision of becoming a global battery minerals processing hub.
The WA nickel industry has experienced extremely challenging global market conditions in recent times, which have prompted mine and processing plant suspensions, and significantly impacted jobs.
These challenging conditions have been caused by a significant structural disruption to the global market prompted by a surge in lower cost supply from other countries coming onstream.
In response, the State Government will offer local nickel producers a 50 per cent royalty rebate - starting from the March quarter 2024 - and will be available over an 18-month period through a new Nickel Financial Assistance Program.
The rebate will be provided if the average price of nickel in concentrate is below US$20,000 per tonne for a given quarter. The rebate will then be repayable by the companies in equal quarterly instalments over the following 24-months.
Companies will need to apply for financial assistance and provide details of their need for support - including information on their finances and projected economics, as well as steps taken to adjust to the current price environment and structural changes in the industry.
Comments attributed to Premier Roger Cook:
"The nickel industry supported almost 10,000 jobs, and generated sales of more than $5 billion last financial year.
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