Environmental Responsibility

The TECH project is establishing itself as a leader in sustainable nickel production with a minimal environmental footprint, as there are no tailings dams, no discharge of process fluids and negative CO2 emissions.

Based on an ISO-compliant life cycle assessment conducted by Minviro, the TECH Project will have a net negative carbon impact of 989,000CO2-e, equivalent to approximately 215,000 typical passenger vehicles, meaning our operations will reduce Australia’s carbon footprint. This is a huge accomplishment for the TECH Project.

Zero Process Liquids

There will be no process liquids discharged from the site or that need to be removed from the site by third parties.

Zero Solids Waste

Historically, nickel laterite ores are processed by High Pressure Acid Leach (HPAL). HPAL operations use sulphuric acid leach under high temperature and pressure conditions.

In the TECH Project, all valuable metals will be leached into solution and then recovered and refined into saleable products. The remnant residue is only ~25% of the dry ore feed, or ~0.25 tonne residue/tonne ore, and is typically comprised of silicates including quartz sand and is inert. This contrasts with HPAL which has a residue footprint of 1.2 – 1.4 tonne residue/tonne ore creating environmental concerns due to the need for tailings dams.

Initial testwork completed by James Cook University (JCU) revealed that the residue from the TECH Project, when mixed with a simple binder, demonstrated the requisite structural properties for engineered fill. While this will be validated by further testwork completed as part of the Feasibility Study other options also exist such as underground mine backfill, brick pavers and road sub-base.

The ability to utilise this residue as an engineered fill means that 100% of the ore processed by the TECH Project has a commercial application, meaning the TECH Project has zero solids waste. This will be an industry first in the resources sector, particularly in nickel laterite processing.

QPM are working with Queensland Department of Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation to have the residue classified as a resource and identifying commercial opportunities for the use of the resource.