The Yabulu refinery of Queensland Nickel Pty Ltd located near
Townsville now imports more than three million wet tonnes per year of
nickel laterite ore from New Caledonia and Indonesia, making it the
largest importer of any commodity in Australia. The project has
illustrated that importing untreated bulk ore and re-exporting high value
products makes good economic sense for the company and the nation. The economics of this exercise have been considerably enhanced in the
past year by changing the project's principal product from nickel oxide
sinter to refined high purity nickel metal. It is one of the few operations
in the world where nickel ore is transformed to nickel metal at a single
site. Several novel technological processes were developed at Yabulu and
incorporated into the refinery to allow this product transition to occur. By
utilising internally developed technology the new processes were installed
at a capital cost of less than $10 million. It is unique for a large nickel
producer to completely change the quality of its entire product range
many years after the plant was constructed and considerable attention to
marketing the new products has been required.