PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The federal government has stepped in to pay outstanding entitlements to workers retrenched at embattled Queensland Nickel.

The administrators of Queensland Nickel last week revealed that 787 former employees at Yabulu refinery and associated Townsville port facilities were due nearly A$72-million in redundancy entitlements, which the now defunct Queensland Nickel is unable to pay owing to a lack of funds.

The government announced that Employment Minister Michaelia Cash would allow the former Queensland Nickel workers to access a contribution towards their unpaid entitlements through the Fair Entitlements Guarantee (FEG).

The FEG provided financial assistance to cover certain unpaid employment entitlements to eligible employees who lose their job owing to the liquidation or bankruptcy of their employer.

“The government’s immediate priority is to ensure affected employees receive appropriate support to find new employment. We have already announced immediate help in the form of an additional A$2.4-million structural adjustment programme to support retrenched workers to get back in the workforce as quickly as possible,” Cash said.

“I’m confident that FEG will ensure workers receive unpaid entitlements quickly, which means the workers will no longer have to endure the financial uncertainty of waiting around for the Queensland Nickel joint venture (JV) partners to do what they should have done from the start.”

She noted that as the FEG was part of the solution for Townsville, the government would look at a “range of actions” under the FEG recovery programme to ensure that the suspect issues identified in the administrator’s report were fully investigated.

“Taxpayers across Australia can rest assured that the government will use every power at its disposal to ensure the corporate dealings of this JV arrangement are thoroughly investigated and responsible company officers are held to account,” Cash said.

She noted that the government would be seeking the appointment of a special purpose liquidator, to work alongside the current liquidator, to maximise the recovery of monies to meet employee entitlements.

“We are doing this because of the unique and alarming circumstances in this case.

“The government wants to send a clear message that in appropriate cases the government is prepared to step in to assist in ensuring that employee entitlements are recovered in full from any companies or individuals that have profited from the endeavours of hard working Australians.”

Meanwhile, Queensland Nickel Sales, which took over the management of Queensland Nickel's Yabulu refinery in March, has said that the refinery would reopen later in the year.

Queensland Nickel Sales is a JV between Clive Palmer’s QNI Resources and QNI Metals.

Queensland Nickel Sales MD Clive Mensink, who was also the MD of Queensland Nickel, said on Monday that the company already had a large team in place to ensure that the refinery was in compliance with all environmental conditions, and was working to optimise future production.

“At this stage I estimate an additional 700 jobs will be created in and around Townsville following the plant’s reopening.

“The nickel price is showing signs of recovery and we are taking time after 40 years of operation to see how the plant can be improved,” Mensink said.

“The replacement cost of the plant is over A$5-billion and its operation is important to the North Queensland economy,’’ he said.

Mensink said Queensland Nickel Sales had been working closely with the Queensland Department of State Development and the Environmental Department, keeping them informed of the operation’s plans.

“We see a strong future for the operation and will announce in the coming weeks some major financial developments to assist the eventual expansion and upgrade of the plant’s capability.”

Queensland Environment and Heritage Protection Minister Steven Miles had previously criticised Clive Palmer, saying he had undertaken the corporate restructure of the Yabulu refinery without bothering to apply for environmental authority (EA) for the new company to run the Yabulu refinery.

Queensland Nickel Sales only applied for a transfer of the existing EA held by Queensland Nickel after the change in ownership.

The Department of Environment and Heritage Protection in March approved the transfer of the EA.