- Blue Energy is set to supply gas to Queensland Pacific Metals’ proposed nickel refinery
- The two companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding today to supply the proposed refinery near Townsville for 15 years
- The Townsville Energy Chemical Hub will produce Nickel and Cobalt Sulphate, chemicals needed for electric vehicle batteries
- Blue Energy’s shares are up 6.38 per cent, trading for 5 cents each
Oil and gas company Blue Energy has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Queensland Pacific Metals, to supply gas to its proposed nickel refining project in Townsville.
Queensland Pacific Metals plans to build the Townsville Energy Chemical Hub (TECH), which will produce nickel sulphate and cobalt sulphate, chemicals needed for electric vehicle batteries.
Pure Metals wholly owns Queensland Pacific Metals and stated in its September Quarterly report that the Townsville City Council has committed land to the Tech project.
“Blue is delighted to be able to offer our gas to underpin the development of a new domestic mineral processing business in Townsville, undertaken by another Australian owned company,” said Blue Energy Chairman, Mr John Ellice-Flint.
The non-binding MoU set an indicative 7 petajoules of gas per annum to be supplied to the project for 15 years.
The gas will initially be drawn from Blue Energy’s ATP814P Sapphire Block which is 12 kilometres from Moranbah Gas Project gas processing facilities. It’s also less than 2 kilometres from gas field gathering infrastructure already in place.
The TECH project plans to process 600,000 tonnes a year of laterite ore in order to produce 25,000 tonnes of nickel sulphate and 3,000 tonnes of cobalt sulphate with the goal of supplying the growing electric vehicle sector.
Two supply agreements for nickel-cobalt ore have already been reached for an initial 5 years with New Caledonian mining companies, Societe des Mines de la Tontouta (SMT) and Socitee Miniere Georges Montagnat S.A.R.L.
Blue Energy was trading 6.8 per cent stronger for 5 cents apiece at 15:57. Pure Minerals was also up 5 per cent trading for 2 cents per share at 15:45 on November 12, 2019.