Singapore 14/03/2016 - Queensland Nickel (QNI), the 30,000-35,000 tonnes per year nickel refinery in Yabulu in Australia’s Queensland, could be shut till July, according to a letter sent to the Queensland government from Queensland Nickel Sales (QNS), the new operator of the refinery.
In the letter published by The Australian Financial Review on Monday afternoon, QNS said it was not in a legal position to operate the refinery due to the delays in relevant government approvals and return in assets including cash to QNS from former voluntary administrators, FTI Consulting.
The Queensland government on Friday had approved the transfer of QNI’s environmental approval to QNS. But a statement from the Industrial Relations Minister later in the day said QNS had yet to supply required information to for the transfer of its major hazard facility licence.
Australian business tycoon and politician Clive Palmer - who owns QNS and QNI - was also reported in local media to have blamed FTI’s decision to cancel nickel ore shipments for the delay in restarting the refinery.
Palmer took back control of QNI from FTI on March 7 after receiving a conditional offer of around A$23 million ($17 million) to support operations at the refinery following the recent recovery in nickel prices.
FTI had introduced a temporary 11-day production suspension in the February 29 week due to a lack of nickel ore.