Mines Minister announces further funding for North Queensland’s critical minerals exploration

Junior copper miners explain how state government funding is supporting them to get North Queensland projects happening.

True North Copper Limited Chief operating Officer Peter Brown and Head of exploration, Daryl Nunn. Picture: Shae Beplate.

North Queensland junior explorers searching for the minerals necessary for renewable technology are sharing in $4.6m of state government funding.

These 18 projects are in development across Townsville, Mount Isa, Cloncurry, Proserpine, and Chillagoe as they search for minerals such as copper, vanadium, and cobalt.

They will be looking for the minerals that make solar panels, turbines, batteries, and the technology needed to decarbonise the world.

Exploration could lead to the discoveries that could become another major mine site, and as Resources Minister Scott Stewart says, “if you can’t find it, you can’t mine it.”

“Now, when we talk about those electric vehicles that we have, for every kilo of lithium that is in a battery, we’re going to need eight kilos of copper,” Mr Stewart said.

Scott Stewart, Minister for Resources and Critical Minerals, with True North Copper Limited Chief operating Officer Peter Brown and Head of exploration, Daryl Nunn. Picture: Shae Beplate.

“So that’s got to come from somewhere.

“This is about helping these explorers to actually get things started.”

“Now what that does it creates excitement.”

On a visit to the United States late last year Mr Stewart had observed how much the world was looking to Australia for a stable supply of critical minerals.

The companies to benefit from the latest Collaborative Exploration Initiative and where the projects are based.

He said the junior miners’ exploration efforts would also improve on the publicly available Queensland Government’s own pooled minerals data as they expand on that information.

True North Copper is one of these junior explorers as it expands on the deposits discovered about 150 years ago by pioneer Ernest Henry in the North West Minerals Province.

Many of these companies are working in the North West Minerals Province. These include True North Copper (18), Mount Isa Mines (9), NeoDys (11) and Renegade Exploration (15).

The company’s head of exploration, Daryl Nunn, said it aims to use the $300,000 it has received in state government funding to use a geophysical technique called MIMDAS to explore its Mt Oxide project further, about 140km north east of Mount Isa.

“(We’re) looking under the surface to identify signatures that are associated with copper deposits,” Mr Nunn said.

“We’re going to build that into our aggressive exploration program this year, but in addition to just building that knowledge base at depth and try to develop targets for copper, we’re also going to understand the large-scale architecture of the Mount Isa inlier.”

True North Copper Limited chief operating Officer Peter Brown speaks to media about exploration in North Queensland. Picture: Shae Beplate.

True North Copper’s chief operating officer Peter Brown said the grant was only part of the investment being spent in the Mount Isa and Cloncurry region.

Its Mt Oxide and Cloncurry project at the former Great Australia Mine were both discovered by Ernest Henry.

Mr Brown said advanced technologies allowed True North Copper to expand on previous work and turn ore bodies into feasible mining operations.

“A lot of deposits are multi-decade discoveries … and getting them into production take 10s of years,” he said.

“So you tend to have exploration in phases, and a lot of the mines come out in phase three or four or even five.

“Some of the things we’re looking at are perhaps sitting at phase three or four.

“We’re bringing in new technologies and that multi-decade period you’ve had new innovations, which we’re now applying and bringing into augment good work other people have done, and turn ore bodies into mines.”

Originally published as Mines Minister announces further funding for North Queensland’s critical minerals exploration