With the city’s Glencore copper mine set to shut down this year – and thousands of jobs set to be lost, Mount Isa Mayor Peta MacRae has told an outback forum how a massive war chest could fund almost 30 major projects ranging from “flying whale” transport blimps to a multimillion-dollar correctional centre, to save the town from economic oblivion.

A sulfuric acid production plant, harvesting the pyrite mineral found at the town’s Tailings Dam, could also produce enough material to fulfil the entire country’s sulfuric acid demand.

The projects would be worth an estimated $2.7b, with the council to lobby the State and Federal governments and the private sector for a mix of the funding pie.

The pitch comes after the Federal government provided a $2.4b bailout to South Australia’s Whyalla Steelworks.

The Mount Isa council has also about $7 million from the State government in a transition fund designed to help explore non-mining solutions to the town’s impending difficulties, but council’s director of community services Chad King said that money “isn’t going to touch the sides”.

“That is a starting point, but what we’re talking about that is needed is a lot more, a lot more.”

The Mount Isa Council was spurred into action by Glencore’s decision to shut its copper operations in town. Other mines are also coming to the end of their life and without action, the city’s population could fall from its current 19,000 to about 10,000.

A strategic report from Mount Isa City Council and Next Economy cites 28 prioritised projects worth about $2.7bn.

In addition to “flying whales” and a correctional facility, mooted projects also include gravity energy storage in disused mine shafts, and critical mineral development.

It will target the Federal Government’s recently legislated $22bn Future Made in Australia strategy and the Critical Minerals fund.

When Glencore announced the closure in 2023 it said job losses would be about 1200 however in media briefings this week Glencore suggested this was now likely to be 600, but there has been no official confirmation. Even so, combined with other looming mine closures the impact will be significant in a city where unemployment is above 5 per cent.

Councillor MacRae said the council should have started the diversification of its economy a long time ago and the pending closure of the copper operations would be a huge loss.

“If we took no action now, we would lose population which would put the economy into a decline and that would create social issues as well,’’ she said.

“We are going to be lobbying the government for money so we can get up some of these key projects identified in the report.’’

The council has signed memorandums of understanding with Green Gravity, a gravitational energy company that wants to use the disused mine shafts for energy storage.

“We have an MOU with the Flying Whales, which is a new type of logistics that can overcome those problems when you have roads and bridges that don’t have adequate capacity for what’s needed,’’ the mayor said.

“We also have an MOU with Cobalt Blue and we are also looking at a critical minerals research facility. ‘’

A spokesperson for Youth Justice and Corrective Services Minister Laura Gerber said they were open to working with the Mount Isa council and community on the plan for a large-scale prison.

“The Crisafulli Government will continue to consult with Queenslanders and work with regional communities about proposals designed to make our community safer,” the spokesperson said.

“The previous Labor Government systemically failed to plan or build critical infrastructure needed to manage capacity in our prisons, which has heaped more pressure on a system at breaking point.

“The Crisafulli Government will build the infrastructure needed to keep our community safe.”