All Major Approvals for TECH Project Received

Queensland Pacific Metals Ltd (ASX:QPM) (“QPM” or “the Company”) is delighted to announce that is has been granted a Development Permit under the Planning Act 2016 and an Environmental Authority (“EA”) for the TECH Project under the Environmental Protection Act 1994.

Highlights

• Development Permit under the Planning Act 2016 has been granted for the TECH Project in accordance with the Townsville City Plan 2014.
  
• Environmental Authority granted under the Environmental Protection Act 1994.
  
• QPM has now received all primary approvals for construction of the TECH Project at Lansdown.
  
• Townsville City Council commences construction of access road to QPM site, which upon completion will allow QPM to start site works around March/April 2023.

The Development Permt for the TECH Project was granted following assessment of QPM’s Material Change of Use Development Application (“MCU DA”). The Assessment Manager of the MCU DA was Townsville City Council (“TCC”), with State referral triggers administered by the State Assessment Referral Agency (“SARA”), including the Department of Environment and Science (“DES”) on EA matters and the Department of Transport and Main Roads (“DTMR”) on State-controlled road matters.

The Development Permit and EA allow QPM to operate Stage 1 of the TECH Project, notionally processing

~1.6m wet metric tonnes of ore per annum to produce approximately 16,000t of nickel metal and 1,750t of cobalt metal, both in sulfate form, as well as other valuable co-products. Most pleasing for QPM is that the conditions associated with the Development Permit and EA are in line with what would be expected for a project of this type and do not impose any onerous development or operating concerns.

The award of the EA for QPM is a major milestone. Coupled with the approval received in November from the Australian Federal Government (see ASX announcement 4^th November), QPM now has all primary approvals (Tier 1 approvals) required to begin construction of the TECH Project. EMM Consulting and the Queensland Office of the Coordinator General assisted QPM with its approvals work.

Lansdown Supporting Infrastructure

As part of developing Lansdown as a modern eco-industrial precinct, TCC will construct key supporting infrastructure including roads and water supply. The construction of this infrastructure is being supported with grants from both State and Federal Governments.

QPM is delighted to report that TCC has commenced construction of an access road which connects the existing Jones Rd to the northern boundary of QPM’s Lansdown site (see figure below). Subject to weather conditions, construction of the access road is expected to be completed by the end of Q1 2023.

Completion of this access road will faciliate QPM’s ability to commence preliminary site establishment works, of which planning is underway.

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