What’s next for Mount Isa?

The mines’ closure decision by Glencore follows a range of studies and reviews. Credit: Mishainik/Shutterstock.

Announcing the scale down and ultimate closure of Mount Isa Mines’ underground copper operations and concentrator, Glencore’s Zinc Assets in Australia chief operating officer, Sam Strohmayr, said: “We know this decision will be disappointing for our people, our suppliers, and the Mount Isa community.” 

Delivering the news, which had been expected for some time, in an October company press statement Glencore said the closure would be completed by the second half of 2025, as the company shifts its attention to long-life zinc mining and copper smelting in the region.

Addressing the North Queensland communities and economy the facility has supported for 60 years, Strohmayr said: “The reality of mining is that mines have a beginning, middle and end.” This facility, he went on, had “reached its end”. The company, one of Australia’s largest producers and marketers of natural resources, took a decision many had been expecting; yet its impact will be far reaching.  

Anticipating the concern it would cause, Strohmayr added: “We want to give our people as much time as possible to consider the best options for them and their families, which is why we are notifying our workers and the community almost two years before these mines close.” The focus now, and in coming months, is to support the 1,200 people directly and indirectly employed and the local economy Strohmayr added, with redundancies a “the last resort” as Glencore seeks other options including retention, redeployment and retraining.

But those reassurances will likely not ease the fears of those affected. Reflecting that unease one analyst described the news as a “hammer blow” for miners and local businesses. Speaking with MINE Australia, Tim Waterer, a chief market analyst with KCM Trade, said: “A cloud has been cast over the economic future of Mount Isa with Glencore exiting from its copper mine,” he says. The facility employs around eight percent of the town’s 13,000-strong adult population.

Waterer believes that although it is within the realms of possibility the town could attract another big name from the sector, it is currently difficult to determine the longer-term impact. 

“Suffice to say, there are challenging times ahead for the Mount Isa community, which has been dealt a bad hand by the Glencore decision,” he adds. Acknowledging Strohmayr’s stated aims to retain and redeploy, he says the blow could be softened if a good percentage of laid-off workers can be successfully assigned new roles within Mount Isa.  

Mount Isa Mines’ underground copper operations – Enterprise, X41 and Black Rock – and copper concentrator have been operational at the site for decades. Glencore has previously said the facility is the hub of its copper and zinc operations in Queensland. Its copper production is reported to be second largest in scale in Australia and “a key asset in Glencore's global mining portfolio”, with Enterprise and X41 being “some of the largest networks of underground mine development in the world”. Glencore data shows the site produced more than 191,500 tonnes of copper cathode in 2022.

Its copper concentrator, zinc-lead concentrator and filter plant, copper and lead smelters produce copper anode, lead bullion and concentrates which are transported to the coastal city of Townsville where they undergo further refinement before being shipped to domestic and international customers.  

The company said processing and refining third-party concentrate from other mines in the region will continue in Townsville – although to do so until 2030 it needs to approve additional capital – along with its port and shipping operations. However, some workers at its Mount Isa support operations in Brisbane, more than 1,800km away, would likely also be impacted with numbers reducing “in size in line with the closures”.  

This long-established copper mine presence in the region, and the communities they have supported, has been important to Glencore. “Our people, suppliers and local communities have played a key role in the success our operations and the region. Our Queensland Metals operations have made a significant socio-economic contribution over many decades, especially in Mount Isa,” its website says.  

However, it adds having conducted numerous studies and reviews in the hope of further extending the underground copper mines, none have proven the further economic viability of the site, which is already six years past its expected lifetime.

“The studies revealed that the remaining mineral resources are not economically viable due to low ore grades and areas where, due to geological conditions, safe extraction can’t be achieved using current technology,” Glencore said in its press statement, adding this was in addition to the ageing infrastructure.

At the same time Glencore confirmed its Lady Loretta zinc mine will also close in 2025, a finite orebody with a seven-year mine life 140km north-west of Mount Isa. Strohmayr said of the two closures: “It’s too early to put a figure on how many people may receive redundancies until we work through a process of speaking to each worker and discuss options.” 

Despite the obvious uncertainty the Mount Isa decision brings, Waterer accepted Glencore’s positions. “As a publicly listed company, Glencore is answerable to its shareholders and unfortunately for Mount Isa, it seems that the numbers no longer add up with respect to the long-operated copper mine in the town. One would assume that if it were profitable to keep operating the mine, they would do so,” he said. 

But the loss of 1,200 jobs would be a big blow for local businesses and the broader Mount Isa economy too, Waterer continued, which is why determining whether workers can be redeployed, or if a buyer can be found, would be “significant factors” in deciding how well Mount Isa “can weather this storm created by the Glencore exit”. 

Questioning whether the mine really was no longer viable – and therefore raising the prospect that it may be of interest to other parties – the area’s state MP, Robbie Katter, said the region would be well rid of Glencore regardless. “The reality is no one wants Glencore here in the North West,” he suggested.  

“We want an owner who is less interested in playing games and more interested in mining the A$750bn worth of untapped critical minerals that exist in the region. If our future out here is so tied to the whims of a fickle global commodity trader, then we need to reassess the operating conditions that we have created and the value our government has placed on mining to our economy.”

For its part the state government has said it will provide a A$50m package to accelerate the development of more resources projects in the area, along with economic structural adjustment. Glencore, it added, will provide an additional A$20m. 

Mount Isa, said to be at the heart of one of the richest minerals provinces in the world with new critical industry minerals worth a potential A$500bn ready to be mined, is already benefitting from a multi-million package for the development of new opportunities and exploration. The A$245m Critical Minerals Strategy is in addition to the A$5bn CopperString 2032 project to connect Townsville, Mount Isa and Queensland’s North West Minerals Province to the national power grid via a 1,100 km high-voltage power line.

Addressing Glencore’s decision, then state Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said Mount Isa had been part of Queensland’s mining heritage for 100 years, and she was determined that would continue. “Our number one priority is to protect jobs and retain skilled workers in this important region… North West Queensland is central to the delivery of critical minerals needed for global decarbonisation, and skilled workers like those at Glencore are vital for this new industry that is set to generate thousands of jobs.” 

Waterer, though, suggests more may be needed: “Perhaps the state government will need to get involved to try and lure some potential buyers of the Glencore mine with incentives.” While hopeful another party will come forward, for now he says Glencore has work to do. “To clarify, I said that ‘If a good percentage of laid off workers can be successfully redeployed within Mount Isa, this could soften the blow’. Right now that remains a big ‘if’, and it will depend on the efforts of Glencore… However, the details at this stage are scant.”

It's a view somewhat echoed by that state’s Treasurer and Minister for Trade and Investment Cameron Dick, who said the Palaszczuk Government had provided a series of assistance packages to Glencore to maintain operations at Mount Isa over the years: “Now I’m calling on Glencore to play its part and make a financial contribution to the economic support package, over and above their obligations to these workers.”

It seems the future of copper mining in the region is unclear. The hope is Glencore will do all it can to secure its mining communities’ existence, that government support will cushion the blow, and that another industry stakeholder will see opportunities. But for now, there are more questions than answers.