The Queensland state government has approved plans for Australia’s largest nickel refinery to be built in Gladstone. The AUD 3.8 billion project is still subject to federal government approval and the financial decisions of the mining development company Gladstone Pacific Nickel. In its original proposal to the state government, Gladstone Pacific Nickel said that a 175km long pipeline would be build to carry ore and sea water between the mine at Marlborough and the Gladstone plant. The refinery is expected to produce 64,000tns of nickel metal and 4800tns of cobalt metal a year in its first stage and 126,000tns of nickel metal and 10,400 of cobalt metal in its second stage.
