Queensland Resources Common User Facility

The Queensland Resources Common User Facility (QRCUF) is a critical minerals processing facility designed to support explorers and mining companies in bringing critical minerals projects to market faster.

Located at the Cleveland Bay Industrial Park in Townsville, the Queensland Government-owned facility supports North Queensland’s role as a growing hub for critical minerals development and processing.

The QRCUF provides access to large-scale processing infrastructure designed to support process expansion, flowsheet development, and technology validation, helping to accelerate Queensland’s critical minerals projects towards commercial production. This access helps explorers and mining companies progress their projects more efficiently, supporting the development of downstream processing capability and capturing more value from Queensland's resources locally.

Minerals processed

The QRCUF’s initial focus is vanadium processing, reflecting Queensland’s significant vanadium resources in the Julia Creek and Richmond regions and the growing pipeline of projects seeking to progress towards production.

The facility has been equipped with a core set of processing equipment designed to support trials for vanadium-containing ores sourced from these regions.

While the facility’s initial focus is vanadium, it has the potential to support other critical minerals. Targeted modifications to the existing infrastructure will allow it to accommodate the future processing requirements of different commodities and flowsheets. Vecco Group is the facility's foundation customer and is using the QRCUF to demonstrate and validate its vanadium production processes.

Role of the facility

Developing and scaling up new technologies for extracting and processing critical minerals can be costly and complex. The QRCUF is designed to support eligible explorers and project developers who have already completed laboratory and small-scale pilot testing and are ready to undertake larger-scale demonstration activities. The facility helps companies test and validate their processing methods, without needing to build their own facilities, before investing in commercial-scale operations. This allows them to:

• trial and refine their processing methods
• demonstrate how their processes work at a larger scale
• validate technical performance and reliability
• produce product samples for potential customers.

Project suitability and access

Projects that use the facility are generally expected to have completed laboratory and small-scale pilot testing and be ready to undertake larger-scale process development and testing activities. We assess access to the facility on a project-by-project basis to ensure proposed activities align with the QRCUF's capabilities and intended purpose.

Processing capabilities

The facility includes large-scale processing infrastructure that supports key stages of mineral processing, including:

• Beneficiation circuit:
  • scrubber
  • cyclone
  • flotation
  • thickener
  • filtration
  • dryer
  • roaster
• Hydrometallurgy circuit:
  • leaching (atmospheric)
  • solvent extraction (SX)
  • impurity removal
  • precipitation
  • calcination.

Project enquiries

To register interest in using the QRCUF, complete the project enquiry form.

We will review the information you provide and, where appropriate, request further information, including proposed processing flowsheets, project requirements or technical details.