An Australian-first critical minerals demonstration facility, which will be expanded to include more than just vanadium, will be built in Townsville to unlock Queensland’s next mining and manufacturing boom.
Queensland Premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, said the $75 million facility – more than seven times the original investment – will be located at Cleveland Bay Industrial Park between the existing Sun Metals zinc refinery and Glencore Copper refinery.
“Queensland has the sunshine and wind above the ground combined with the critical minerals below the ground to make batteries and renewables with renewable energy,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“After working with prospective users, universities and research centres, the facility will not only be able to process vanadium, a key component of large-scale batteries, but it will be expanded allowing for a range of critical minerals like cobalt and rare earth elements to be processed.”
It is hoped the facility will prove up the commerciality of critical minerals in Queensland and create jobs not just in mining but in processing and manufacturing.
The State Government needs critical minerals to build the SuperGrid, batteries and the wind and solar farms as part of the Queensland Energy and Jobs Plan.
Ms Palaszczkuk said, “Sun Metals is not just the largest private employer in Townsville, it is a world-leading green industrial precinct processing the zinc needed for wind towers and batteries with renewable energy and using hydrogen to store and transport renewable energy.
“By partnering with all levels of government Sun Metals and Ark Energy have paved the way for future critical minerals processing plants in North Queensland.
“Already we have seen Queensland Pacific Metals secure an agreement with General Motors to supply minerals for electric vehicle batteries.
“The opportunities in North Queensland include mining and processing the minerals for vanadium, zinc bromine and iron flow batteries, cobalt and nickel used in lithium-ion batteries, high-purity alumina for LEDs, batteries and semiconductors, rare earth elements used in electronics and silicon for solar panels and semiconductors.”
Queensland Minister for Resources, Scott Stewart, said there was enormous potential for vanadium mining and production in North Queensland.
“Vanadium had come a long way from first being used in the Ford Model T Car over a century ago to now being used in batteries with twice the lifespan of lithium-ion batteries,” Mr Stewart said.
“Global demand for vanadium in batteries and high-quality steel is expected to outpace supply before the end of the decade. Queensland has world-class, highly economic deposits of vanadium located in accessible marine shale.
“Because they hold their charge in a liquid form, vanadium redox batteries can be built to a much bigger scale, powering larger communities for longer.
“Vanadium has the potential to be the Eureka moment for North Queensland.”
The facility will also enable further extraction of high purity alumina, cobalt and rare earths.
Mr Stewart said, “There is already interest from companies in using the facility and once the market sees the quality of Queensland’s valuable resources for themselves, they will have confidence to invest in commercial-scale facilities and downstream manufacturing infrastructure creating thousands of good skilled jobs for Queenslanders.”
Investment opportunities for North Queensland include:
- Becoming a global supplier of vanadium and manufacturer of flow batteries
- The supply of cobalt and nickel precursors for lithium batteries used in electric cars; Extraction of high purity alumina needed to make sapphire glass for LEDs, battery separators, and semiconductors
- Mining and processing of rare earth elements used in electronics and advanced manufacturing
- Mining of high purity quartz and potential silicon production used to make solar panels and semiconductors
The facility is part of a $150 million commitment announced in the 2022-2023 State Budget Update in December 2022 for common user infrastructure to support the development, extraction and production of critical minerals.
The $100 million Critical Minerals Investment Fund managed by Queensland Investment Corporation will further support Australian businesses to compete globally and make batteries and advanced materials in Queensland with minerals mined from Queensland.
The facility is a key action under the Queensland Resources Industry Development Plan, and supports the delivery of the $62 billion Queensland Energy and Jobs Plan and the transformation of Queensland’s energy system to deliver clean, reliable and affordable energy to provide power for generations.
It’s expected to commence operations by the first half of 2025.
Information on applications for critical minerals and rare earths is available at https://www.resources.qld.gov.au/mining-exploration/initiatives/critical-minerals/uses-of-critical-minerals and https://www.ga.gov.au/scientific-topics/minerals/mineral-resources-and-advice/australian-resource-reviews/rare-earth-elements
