Battery refinery site rethink after block turns to ‘lake’

TONY RAGGATT, Townsville Bulletin

April 8, 2019 4:00pm

Subscriber only

THE proponents of a $500 million battery metals refinery, Queensland Pacific Metals, have widened their search for a development site, partly after seeing the extent of flooding on a property where it planned to build north of Townsville.

Directors of the company addressed a community briefing in the city on Wednesday where residents who live near the site at Yabulu told them the property turned into a “lake” during the late-January early-February monsoon.

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“That block was a lake. There was three foot (about 90cm) of water. If you build a plant there, what are you going to do?” a woman in the audience asked.

QPM director John Downie responded to say that these issues were very much “front of mind” and it was one reason Yabulu – identified as Bluewater in their plans – was now “at the bottom of the list”.

CSIRO's Pilot Plant used to test nickel and cobalt sulphate production for Queensland Pacific Metals' new refinery to be constructed in Townsville. Photo: Supplied

Another director Andrew Matheson told the meeting he expected flood maps for the area would likely “change dramatically” as a result of the monsoon event. “We were pretty much taken aback by what we saw,” he said.

Mr Matheson added that the Yabulu site, a 300ha farm a member of their group had acquired, was zoned rural and that work to achieve a rezoning would be substantial.

Speaking to the Bulletin, Mr Matheson said they were working with Townsville City Council and the State Government and looking at locations including Yabulu, the Townsville State Development Area in Stuart and Woodstock where the council had identified land for future industrial use, including for Imperium3’s proposed $2 billion battery manufacturing plant.

Queensland Pacific Metals directors John Downie and Andrew Matheson at a briefing on their nickel and cobalt refinery project planned for Townsville.

“Over the course of the next few months we’ll progress our conversations with the council and State Government in the hope of locking down a site that works for the community here,” Mr Matheson said.