Mines Minister Dale Last on Glencore discussions as he opens ‘state of the art’ facility Graphinex
Time is running out to solve the crisis facing the North and North West copper industry. Here’s why.
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Queensland’s Resources Minister knows the “clock is ticking” on the future of Glencore’s North and North West operations, but he says the government is working “very, very hard” to keep the smelter AND REFINERY open.
In Townsville on Friday to officially open Graphinex’s new graphite processing plant in Mount St John, Burdekin MP Dale Last said discussions were still ongoing with the mining giant and the federal government.
On Tuesday, the Prime Minister’s announced that an “imminent” rescue package for two Nyrstar smelters in Hobart and Port Pirie had been confirmed.
Mr Last said he was hopeful a similar package would be put forth for Mount Isa.
“It is my hope that they will continue to engage in good faith and certainly moving forward, that we can put in place a rescue package for the copper smelter at Mount Isa, it is crucial, absolutely crucial for the North West Mineral Province and for Queensland’s future in the resources sector,” he said.
“The clock is ticking, that’s why we are having these meetings on a regular basis.
We’re working through the details with Glencore and the federal government.”
Mr Last said he and Trade Assistant Minister Tim Ayres flew to Mount Isa in recent weeks to meet with Glencore officials and the Mount Isa Mayor, Peta MacRae.
“We’re absolutely committed to finding a solution to this issue and the fact that the Federal Government has provided a rescue package for a number of other smelters around Australia, gives me hope that we’ll be able to secure a similar deal for Mount Isa going forward,” he said.
Mr Last called out the “audacity” of the former Palaszczuk government, saying he has “gone back through the diaries” of the former Premier and Shadow Minister Cameron Dick and found they had “not one” meeting with Glencore in regards to the closure of the smelter and mine during their time in government.
“The audacity to now turn up and somehow make us believe that they are all of a sudden concerned about the future of Mount Isa is beyond belief,” he said.
“Where was the opposition when they were in Government.”
Also in Townsville on Friday, Deputy Labor Leader Cameron Dick it was a “bit rich” for Dale Last to be speaking on graphite, when the critical mineral he should be focused on was copper.
“That is the number one mineral that needs to be exercising the attention of the Resources Minister,” he said.
“David Crisafulli and Dale Last need to put the pedal to the metal and the metal is copper.”
“What the people of Townsville need is super fast response from the government on what the future will be for the Townsville refinery.”
Mr Dick said 17,000 jobs were “on the line” between the mine and the smelter, calling it “five minutes to midnight” for the people who depend on copper processing in North and North West Queensland.
“We are near the end of the road when it comes to copper in this part of Queensland,” he said.
“Once we lost that manufacturing capability, we can never get it back.
“The people of Townsville deserve an answer and they deserve an answer now.”
Cutting the ribbon to officially open the Graphinex processing plant in Townsville, Mr Last said construction of a greenfield graphite mine at Croydon the North West was the next step.
Pending approvals construction is expected to start in 2027 with operations commencing 18 months after that.
Managing director of Graphinex Art Malone said the facility was “state of the art”.
“Our mine site and our resources is the third-largest globally and produces the highest performing batteries globally,” he said.
“This takes every part of the flow sheet from mine site through to making the battery onsite, it’s an Australian first.”
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Originally published as Mines Minister Dale Last on Glencore discussions as he opens ‘state of the art’ facility Graphinex
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