COBALT Blue have received a three-year extension on the company’s major project status.
The major project status extension is set to support the company in advancing investment discussions and plans to develop a Western Australia refinery centre.
The designation means Cobalt Blue can receive direct support from the Major Projects Facilitation Agency, which includes help from Federal Government approvals related to things like the environment, biosecurity, and foreign investment.
Cobalt Blue’s Broken Hill Technology Centre operations manager Adam Randall said the local battery recycling facility had moved from just being a demonstration plant.
“It’s more of a technology centre because we’ve got the plant, we’ve got the processing technology,” Mr Randall said.
“So, we’re looking at a few options for this plant, which include taking some feedstocks from different sources.
“One of, which is it’s called Black Mass, which is the material that’s produced by batteries.
“So, we can take that, and we can process it, and we can convert it back into cobalt and nickel products and get those back into the manufacturing streams in Australia.”
Mr Randall said the company was ticking all the boxes when it came to being environmental, putting back into the circular economy and being future made for Australia.
“If we’re able to get that working here, and it makes financial sense to do it, then we would be the first commercially operating plant in Australia processing that material.
“Which is a big win for a big win for regional New South Wales, a big win for Broken Hill, of course, it’s a great thing for Australia.”
Mr Randall said when their status extension was announced, Federal Minister for Industry and Innovation and Science, Tim Ayres, visited the facility.
“Now, the Federal Government has extended the major project status for the Broken Hill Cobalt Project, which is a very good thing overall for that project and for Broken Hill and the Australian critical minerals industry,” Mr Randall said
“They obviously consider that it’s of significant importance, it means that we’ve got the backing of the Federal Government to help assist us to develop that project.”
Mr Randall said they have been focusing on the refinery, the Kwinana Cobalt Refinery, in WA.
“Now, our strategy as a company is that we’re currently focussed on the refinery that we’re proposing to build in Kwinana and that that’s an important project for a number of reasons.
“One is that it would be the first refinery of these battery manufacturing commodities in Australia, and the existence of that refinery then bolsters the economics and the security and stability of projects like the one.
“In order for us to develop that project, it’s imperative that we have somewhere that we can send the product to.
“So having that refinery set up in WA now provides an offtake partner for the Broken Hill Cobalt project, which is a big tick in the box for validating.
“It also then provides an opportunity for other projects with, Lithium, Cobalt, etcetera to have somewhere to send their products.
“We’ve been doing all of the test work and optimisation work of that process here, working with a locally sourced and locally based workforce and training locals.
“Then the skills that the operators learn are then transferrable to the refinery in WA or the project that we’ve recently acquired in the Pilbara, WA, which is called the Halls Creek Project.
“That’s predominantly a copper project so that positions the company very strongly in both the Cobalt and Copper markets and we believe that that diversity strengthens our overall position.”
Mr Ayres said the projects were a crucial investment in science that will develop blue collar and engineering jobs in regional Australia, Mr Randall said.
