The $1.5 billion CopperString 2.0 proposal to build a privately owned electricity transmission line from Townsville to Mount Isa, to lower power prices for big industrial users such as Glencore, is expected to live or die on a loan from the Morrison government’s $5 billion Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF).

While the Palaszczuk Labor government this week spruiked the long-mooted project reaching another planning milestone, CopperString director Joseph O’Brien confirmed a NAIF loan of up to $1 billion would help bring in private investors to the 1100-kilometre, 275-kilowatt line.