Steel Guru : GPNL wins environmental approval for Gladstone Nickel Project

Further to the announcement on January 16th 2009, Gladstone Pacific Nickel Limited announced that the federal government of Australia has approved the Environmental Impact Statement for construction and operation of Stages 1 and 2 of the company's Gladstone Nickel Project.

Mr John Downie CEO of Gladstone Pacific Nickel Limited said that "Along with the Queensland government approval in January 2009 this approval marks a significant milestone in the development of our Project and is the product of over 3 years efforts to achieve a positive outcome to a rigorous and challenging environmental process."

Mr Downie went on to say that "Following the approval of the EIS by the Queensland government the Federal Government assessed the Project under federal legislation concerning matters of national environmental significance. This included an assessment of the potential effects of the project on the Great Barrier Reef and important migratory species. Their approval means that another important project development foundation is in place, and we can now focus on securing funding for our Project".

The GNP will demonstrate environmental leadership through its use of best practice air emissions and process water treatment technology and the continued investigation of environmental synergies with other industrial facilities in the Gladstone region.

Stage 1 of the GNP, in the Yarwun Precinct of the Gladstone State Development Area, will have the capacity to produce 63,000 tonnes of nickel, 6,000 tonnes of cobalt and around 175,000 tonnes of ammonium sulphate a year, with production likely to commence late in 2012.

The project is expected to create up to 2,600 construction jobs for stage 1 and 1,750 for the second stage. Around 530 Gladstone based operational jobs will be created when production starts, with additional employees being required at GPNL's laterite mines at Marlborough in Australia and Ouinné in New Caledonia.