About Greenvale
Greenvale is a nickel mining settlement in
Queensland, Australia, approximately 220
kilometres (137 mi) northwest of Townsville.
Other metal ores are also extracted there. It is
located within the Charters Towers Region.
Greenvale lies on the banks of the Burdekin
River and on the Gregory Developmental Road.
A good sealed road crosses the hills over to
Townsville. An ore-carrying railway line ran
between Greenvale and Queensland Nickel
Industries (QNI) processing plant at Yabulu,
approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of
Townsville from 1974 to 1993. Greenvale Post
Office opened on 1 November 1973. Some of
the longest trains in Australia were pulled along
this. The railway line tracks were removed in
mid-2000; however the bridges, cuttings, blue
metal and easement remain. Occasionally
people walk from Yabulu to Greenvale along it,
as a form of fundraising. Despite the fact that
the mine itself has since concluded operations,
more mining operations around the area have
since commenced and homes are all fully
occupied with workers supporting the regional
mining and exploration.
Recently the Greenvale mining lease has
undergone extensive exploration work by
Straits Resources and Metallica Minerals for the
purpose of reopening the nickel and cobalt
operations. The surrounding areas have
extensive nickel and cobalt mineralisation.
During this most recent exploration work, the
Lucknow ridge south of the mine has been
found to contain one of the largest known
reserves of scandium oxide in the Lateritic
nickel ore deposits. According to the managing
director of Metallica Minerals, Andrew Gillies,
the deposit's quality and purity are remarkably
high Scandium oxide is a critical component of
solid oxide fuel cells which have promise for
the efficient direct production of electricity
from low carbon gas fuels.