Families weigh up leaving Mount Isa in wake of Glencore closure, economist says
An NQ economist says support packages should keep Glencore workers in Mount Isa, after the miners decision to close underground copper operations in 2025.
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Families will be weighing up whether to leave Mount Isa as a mining giant announced the closure of 1200-worker copper mines in the city.
JCU economics lecturer Diana Castorina said with support packages there were opportunities to try to retain these workers and keep them in the region.
Glencore will close its underground copper operations and Lady Loretta zinc mines in 2025, the company announced on Tuesday night.
The copper ore body has all-but reached the end of its life and Glencore is working through redeployments and retraining, before redundancies are considered.
The company’s copper smelter, George Fisher Mine, zinc-lead concentrator, lead smelter in Mount Isa, and the copper refinery in Townsville will continue operating.
The state government has put up $30m to accelerate new projects and a further $20m – which it expects Glencore to match – for an “economic structural adjustment package”, which the government rolls out when large commercial operations shut down.
“Whilst there are projections for a positive outlook for global mine production for copper – the majority of increases are expected to come from Chile and the Democratic Republic of Congo – there are risks around declining ore grades, coupled with higher production costs and ageing facilities,” Ms Castorina said.
“Mines have a life cycle, with many approaching the end of theirs. Householders will now be weighing up their options of whether they will stay or look to leave the region.
“Economic drivers are important factors in this decision making, as are social factors, such as how strong are the ties to the community,” she said, citing examples like families with children in school.
But copper is a major slice of Mount Isa’s identity.
The 2021 census found 16.9 per cent (1587 people) of Mount Isa employees worked in copper, and silver/lead/zinc was second with 9 per cent.
Mount Isa’s gross regional product (GRP, a value-added marker) is $95 per capita, compared to $72 GRP for the whole Townsville-Northwest region, and $70 for Queensland as a whole.
“We have seen with time, many families call Mount Isa home, with 16 schools established, about one-fifth of its population are primary aged schoolchildren,” Ms Castorina said.
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Originally published as Families weigh up leaving Mount Isa in wake of Glencore closure, economist says
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