Nickel refinery's still well on track

TIMES might be considered tough and likely to get tougher, but for the men behind Gladstone Pacific Nickel business keeps rolling on.

Gladstone Pacific Nickel Limited plans to build a $US3.6 billion ($A5.5b) nickel and cobalt refinery on the outskirts of Gladstone, a proposal that moved a step closer recently with the Queensland Government approving the Environmental Impact Study for the plant.

The approval process is still subject to scrutiny by the Federal Government.

The project is planned to begin production in 2012.

GPNL's future is inextricably linked with Resources Development International, a company owned by billionaire Clive Palmer who also has major iron ore mining interests in Western Australia and coal interests in Central Queensland.

GPNL's future is also linked to a $5 billion RDI float on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The listing has been postponed until later this year, but the postponement is not likely to have any bearing on preparatory work by GPNL.

Yesterday GPNL chief executive officer John Downie said the Front End Engineering Design work was well underway with the GPNL team recently returned from China

“MCC is still committed to the project,” he said.

GPNL has a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the China Metallurgical Corporation (MCC) and has worked in close co-operation to bring the project to fruition.

MCC is the turn-key engineering company responsible for bringing the plant on line.

RDI already works in close co-operation with MCC in Western Australian iron ore business, where mine construction is currently underway.

GPNL plans to source its ore both from Marlborough, north of Rockhampton and New Caledonia.

The refinery is considered to be state-of-the-art and uses sea water in its process, has very low carbon dioxide emissions and has new and innovative wastewater treatment design.

The company believes it has the capacity to work with other sulphur dioxide emitters in the region to lower the overall sulphur dioxide emissions of Gladstone industry.

Despite the economic crisis Mr Downie said the company was not looking at short-term commodity prices

“We are looking at a 50 to 100-year time frame,” he said

“The refinery will be ideally positioned to meet future worldwide demand for stainless steel.”

The project has the capacity to create 2000 construction jobs in Gladstone, with another 1750 if it is expanded to a second stage in the future.

Once built, the refinery would create 530 permanent operational jobs.

As construction begins on the plant, GPNL plans to spend $9 million on community projects over three years.