Jobs on offer at Mt Carbine tungsten mine

Australia’s only operating tungsten mine is set to ramp right up in coming months with more than 50 jobs on offer for those who want to stay in the Far North. Find out where.

More than 50 jobs will soon be advertised by a cutting edge tungsten mine at Mt Carbine, 132km north west of Cairns.

EQ Resources is Australia’s only operating primary tungsten producer and executive officer Kevin MacNeill said open pit mining would kick off on June 1.

He said the company was after workers who wanted to stay in the Far North and it would operate buses from Mareeba and Port Douglas – a 50 minute trip.

Former Mt Carbine bartender Emily MacLean is now a supervisor working at EQ Resources tungsten mine. Picture: Bronwyn Farr.

“We are after more senior, settled people, people who want to stay in the area,” Mr MacNeill said.

“We get 20-somethings as operators and we get them trained up get them all their tickets and they leave us to do FIFO with companies like BHP.”

Mr MacNeill said the company was seeking diesel fitters, truck drivers, excavator operators and safety people.

“We provide in-house training for lower end positions like truck driving,” he said.

EQ Resources chief executive Kevin MacNeill says there is potentially $3bn in tungsten at the Mt Carbine mine, which is the only producing tungsten mine in Australia. Picture: Supplied.

China currently has a global monopoly on tungsten production – a critical mineral – but Mr MacNeill is confident the Mt Carbine project will make a dent in that.

EQ Resources has struck a deal with a mining-tech firm in Brisbane called Plotlogic.

Plotlogic’s founder and chief executive Dr Andrew Job said the company’s technology could revolutionise the industry and secure Australia’s position at the forefront of a new and critical industry.

Plotlogic’s tech will combine advanced imaging and artificial intelligence (AI) to characterise ore in real time.

“It’s new technology that measures the alterations of minerals, scanning faces and drill cores to identify a whole different range of minerals, which is then pumped into the computer to create a finger print – it is scanning beyond visual identification,” Mr MacNeill said.

Some 50 locals have been employed at EQ Resources tungsten mine at Mt Carbine to date and that figure will increase to 100. Picture: Bronwyn Farr.

“We will be making a fairly sizeable dent for western tungsten production within the next two or three years, and when underground comes on, we will be making a big dent,” he said.

He said the open pit could supply up to 10 per cent of the world’s tungsten and the mine would have a life of more than 20 years.

Tungsten from Mt Carbine is sold to refiners in the US, Europe and a refiner in Vietnam which works with a German company to create the end product – tungsten powder.

Tungsten is used in drill bits as one of the hardest elements on earth. Picture: Supplied

“Tungsten is used in drill bits, tungsten carbide is a very hard item, and an interesting new development is batteries for electric cars – it is a five minute charging time with a tungsten battery, and that could increase demand for tungsten globally.

China’s current stranglehold over the critical mineral makes reviving a domestic tungsten industry – and building out a national tungsten resource – a strategic imperative the federal government is backing, with a $6m grant awarded last April.

Tungsten is listed as a critical mineral in the United States, Japan, India and Australia and has been recognised as having the highest economic importance of all raw materials by the European Commission. Picture: Supplied

The Chinese government has regulated its tungsten industry by limiting the number of mining and export licenses, imposing quotas on concentrate production, and placing constraints on mining and processing – dominating global supply.

China controls more than 80 per cent of production.

Australia has barely mined tungsten since around 1990.

The mine is a joint venture between ASX-listed EQ Resources and German metals trading group Cronimet.

Tungsten is one of the hardest elements on earth and is commonly used in steel alloys for tool making as well as for solar technology, wind turbine blades and filaments for lighting. Picture: Supplied

The Mount Carbine deposit was found in 1883 and yielded its first tungsten in 1895.

It operated sporadically for 90 years before closing in 1986.

Originally published as Jobs on offer at Mt Carbine tungsten mine