Major milestone in delivery of Australian-first critical minerals facility

• Call out for a Managing Contractor to deliver a common user demonstration plant for critical minerals processing
• State-owned facility to be located at Cleveland Bay Industrial Park in Townsville
• First facility of its kind in Asia-Pacific

Delivery of an Australian-first processing facility for critical minerals like vanadium has reached another important milestone with the opening of Expressions of Interest (EOI) for a managing contractor.

The Queensland Resources Common User Facility (QRCUF) will be a purpose-built testing and demonstration facility located at the Cleveland Bay Industrial Park.

The state-owned mineral processing facility will focus initially on vanadium processing, with capacity to expand over time to encompass processing other critical minerals like cobalt and rare earth elements.

Vanadium is in demand around the world for its many uses, including to create a reliable and safe renewable energy storage solution which can be used in large-scale batteries.

Delivery of the QRCUF in Queensland will accelerate the development of commercial mining projects, promote investment in advanced mineral manufacturing opportunities, and support supply chain and supporting industry development.

There is no comparable pilot or demonstration scale facility in Australia or the Asia Pacific.

The Managing Contractor of the project will be responsible for engaging the consultants, suppliers and trade contractors necessary to develop and construct the QRCUF and may choose to undertake some of the works directly.  

The QRCUF is expected to commence operations in 2025.

The EOI opens today and will close on 15 May 2023. Following the EOI, the Queensland Government will select a shortlist of respondents to go to a Request for Proposal later in mid-2023.

Quotes attributable to the Treasurer and Minister for Trade and Investment:

“Delivery of the Queensland Resources Common User Facility reinforces our Government’s ongoing commitment to the critical minerals industry in North Queensland.

“Once operational the facility will enable North Queensland to leverage their abundant critical minerals and rare earth elements to secure local supply and meet the growing global demand.

“There is already interest from companies in using the facility, and opportunities for jobs, new manufacturing and processing supply chains and investment to North Queensland is expected follow.

“Vanadium is used in redox flow batteries, which have a much greater capacity to be scaled up than other battery technology.

“That means this Common User Facility has the potential to play a major role in the delivery of the Queensland Energy and Jobs Plan."

Quotes attributable to the Minister for Resources Scott Stewart:

“Queensland and in particular the North West Minerals Province has an abundance of critical minerals like vanadium that the world is demanding as it decarbonsies.

“The Queensland Resources Common User Facility as well as the Palaszczuk Government’s investment in Copperstring 2032 will help unlock these deposits and the next resources boom for the state.

“This facility will help resources companies prove up their product and develop new opportunities for vanadium mining in Queensland which will support good jobs in regional Queensland."

Further information:

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.

It is also 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.

ENDS

Media contacts:

Geoff Breusch (Treasurer) - 0417 272 875

Chris Lees (Minister Stewart) - 0434 859 940