Mount Isa community left reeling after Glencore shutdown

Residents are distrustful of government and Glencore, and unsure how to process the situation. Read how they’re impacted:

Residents say they are confused and sceptical at Glencore’s decision to stop underground copper operations in two years, which will impact up to 1200 jobs in Mount Isa.

Mount Isa historian Kim-Maree Burton said there had been a pattern of Mount Isa Mines’ owners gaining economic advantage by threatening to close operations in the past, such as with the copper smelter.

“Mount Isa has had a history of strikes,” she said.

“But since then we haven’t had those big strikes, but what has happened is that Xstrata and Glencore would call poor in a period of time before maintenance was done, and either the federal or state government would give them extra money to help out.

“While confused, we’re also sceptical of the communication that Glencore has put out that we’re going to close.

Mount Isa historian Kim-Maree Burton said the town has reached a significant milestone. Founder and prospector John Campbell Miles discovered ore which led to the town, and mine’s, foundation.

“That’s been fitting in what has happened over the 20 years of ownership of Xstrata and Glencore and the State Government comes in the last minute, and then they keep going.”

The cynicism that copper ore can still be extracted is confirmed by local residents Emma Harman and Mick Bakhash, as well as State MP Robbie Katter.

The disbelief in Glencore is even mocked in a meme.

Mount Isa retiree Mick Bakhash said there had been much talk this week about remaining copper left at Mount Isa Mines.

A local satirical Facebook group, Mount Isa Memes to Make the Cool Kids Scream, published a meme from television show The Office in which a character reacts to the mines’ closure, “your (sic) closing the copper mine yeh (sic) right … your (sic) not seriously closing the copper mine … you are actually closing the copper mine.”

Local mother Nadia Cowperthwaite said her family was not directly impacted by Glencore’s decision, because her husband worked at George Fisher mine, which produced lead and zinc.

But there were concerns, particularly with housing prices.

“With CopperString going in and drilling companies around I would assume more small mines will be opening, it just depends on how many people will want to be based in Mount Isa in order to raise prices,” she said.

Queensland Treasurer and Minister for Trade and Investment Cameron Dick speaks at a press conference at Parliament House. Mr Dick made a statement on Glencore's announcement about its Mount Isa Copper operations. Picture: Dan Peled / NCA NewsWire

“We’d like to have the opportunity to refinance at some point.”

Mrs Cowperthwaite said it had been well-known for a long time that the copper grade at the mines had been running low, and that the mines were becoming too deep to extract copper affordably.

“That’s how mining is, if it costs more than its worth to get out of the ground then it’s not going to be mined.”

A long-term Mount Isa business owner, who did not want to be identified, said she questioned government policy to focus on only one industry, which therefore meant dependency on only one source of income.

“Why was all our eggs in one basket?

“Now they’re starting to crack,” she said.

She said tourism would not be the solution for job creation for the region because of how it only depended on several months in the peak-season, and therefore fluctuated.

The government should invest in infrastructure such as a transport hub, or a small-scale prison to bolster job numbers when the local mining industry suffers a downturn, she said.

“Our problem is every time this happens we lose people and services,” she said.

“We are a city … but we aren’t getting treated like a city.

“The wealth that comes out of here is being squandered elsewhere.

“The government has to reward those who want to live and spend and embrace the town and especially buying a house.”

Originally published as Mount Isa community left reeling after Glencore shutdown