MELBOURNE, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Australian mining magnate Clive Palmer's Queensland Nickel business sought urgent talks on Tuesday with the state government to prop up its struggling Yabulu refinery in Townsville.
"I call on the Premier and the Treasurer to clear their diaries for urgent talks on these matters, for the sake of more than 2,000 local jobs," Queensland Nickel Managing Director Clive Mensink, Palmer's nephew, said in a statement.
He said he was not seeking cash, but wanted a "guarantee on a short-term basis secured by more than a billion dollars of assets."