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Posted by Dale Crisp
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8 April, 2026
THE QUEENSLAND Government has declared the Sugarbag Hill Ultra High Purity Quartz Sand Project ‘prescribed’, enabling fast-track delivery.
The $515 million project is expected to create 600 construction jobs and 140 ongoing jobs across North and Far North Queensland, and provide a boost to Townsville and its port through processing and export activity.
The project includes a quarry at Sugarbag Hill, 17 kilometres from Forsayth, and preprocessing at Mount Garnett. Further processing of the critical material is proposed at the Lansdown Eco-Industrial Precinct south of Townsville, with a pilot facility in Stuart and chemical storage at the Port of Townsville.
The project will also allow highquality quartz sand to be exported through the port.
Ultrahigh purity quartz is an important material used to make products like semiconductors, specialised glass and equipment needed in advanced manufacturing, the government says.
Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie said “Queensland is open for business, and we are providing the certainty needed for major projects to plan and progress. Declaring the Sugarbag Hill Ultra High Purity Quartz Sand Project a prescribed project ensures this development moves forward without unnecessary delays.
“This project will help strengthen Queensland’s critical minerals capability, inject hundreds of millions of dollars worth of investment and create hundreds of jobs in North and Far North Queensland.
“With the Queensland Resources Common User Facility and Graphinex’s Battery Anode Hub just down the road, we’re committed to building sovereign capacity right across the critical minerals sector.”
High Purity Quartz Limited CEO Stuart Jones said the declaration provided certainty for the project: “We welcome the Queensland Government’s support, which reinforces the strategic importance of our project to the State’s Critical Minerals Strategy.
“This declaration allows us to progress project approvals more efficiently and with greater certainty as we move through the Detailed Feasibility Study and Engineering stage,” Mr Jones said.
“It recognises the importance of establishing a Queensland based supply of globally-scarce ultra high purity quartz sand, which is critical for solar PV silicon wafer manufacturing.”
Subject to approvals, High Purity Quartz Ltd is targeting a final investment decision in early 2027 and commencement of construction in early 2028.
