Premier seeks zinc link
PREMIER Annastacia Palaszczuk will meet Sun Metals officials in South Korea to discuss boosting operations at their Townsville zinc refinery.
Ms Palaszczuk leaves today for a week- long trade mission starting in China and then South Korea, where she will talk with top Sun Metals officials about expansion oppor- tunities for their refinery. She said this meeting would focus on growing jobs potential in North Queensland.
“I look forward to meeting Mr Je- Jun Lee, president of Korea Zinc and Mr Yun Choi, vice- president and chief executive officer of Sun Metals,” she said.
“I will ask the president and vice president about potential opportunities to expand the refinery in Townsville and deliver new full- time jobs.”
Earlier this year, Sun Metals completed construction of Australia’s biggest private solar power plant at its zinc refinery, which is located south of Townsville.
Sun Metals Corporation chief executive Yun Choi said the company was working towards verifying the business case in order to expand the zinc refinery.
“The expansion would … mean an additional $ 300 million invested in Townsville and is expected to support up to 827 construction jobs during peak construction, also with significant increase in permanent workers at the refinery and across Sun Metals,” he said.
“The expansion would also see an increase in economic activities for Townsville.
“There would be significant increase in Townsville Port activities, uplift for local suppliers and contractors and also, via use of new refining technology, reduced water usage and environmental footprint.”
Mr Choi said Sun Metals needed to achieve an “acceptable” long- term power price agreement before it could make a final decision.
Ms Palaszczuk said the Port of Townsville also played an “important role” in Queens- land’s continuing export success story.
“Trade means, jobs,” she said. “It’s as simple as that.”
Ms Palaszczuk’s trade delegation includes more than a dozen Queensland companies.
China is Queensland’s biggest customer, accounting for $ 23.7 billion of the state’s exports.
Ms Palaszczuk said the scale of trade opportunities in the region were “staggering”.
“Our record exports mean one thing: jobs. And getting more work for more Queenslanders is my first priority.”