Glencore to shut down Mount Isa copper, 1200 jobs under threat
After 60 years, Glencore’s Mount Isa Mines underground copper operations will close in the second half of 2025, cutting up to 1200 jobs.
Mining giant Glencore will close its 60-year-old Mount Isa underground copper mines within two years with the loss of up to 1200 jobs in the outback resources city.
The mines, which have been an economic lifelife in the city of more 22,000 people, will shut down in the second half of 2025 after efforts to further extend their productive lives were unsuccessful, Swiss-owned Glencore said. Glencore’s Lady Loretta zinc mine, located 140 kilometres northwest of Mount Isa, will also close in 2025.
The closure of the aging mines, which have operated six years beyond their original expected life, underscores the need for the city to move beyond being a one company town.
The Queensland Government has announced a $50m support package for workers impacted by the closure. The city, founded in 1923 when prospector John Campbell Miles stumbled upon one of the world’s richest deposits of copper, silver and zinc, is in the middle of the North West Minerals Province with critical minerals resources estimated to be worth up to $680bn.
Glencore chief operating officer Sam Strohmayr said he knew the decision “will be disappointing for our people, our suppliers, and the Mount Isa community.”
The company has vowed to remain a major presence in North Queensland for the foreseeable future. That includes the Mount Isa copper smelter, George Fisher Mine, the zinc-lead concentrator, and lead smelter as well as its copper refinery in Townsville.
Glencore’s George Fisher Mine has a current life of mine to 2036 and expectations are for the copper smelter and refinery to continue operating to 2030, subject to approval of additional capital investment. The company’s ageing Mount Isa operations have become increasingly difficult to mine, with the value of its smelter and refinery – which also process limited quantities of third-party product – largely at the mercy of Australia’s soaring energy prices.
The Queensland Government is planning a $5bn, 1100km electricity transmission line south of Townsville to Mount Isa that will connect the province to the national grid.
In 2021, fears emerged that Glencore may not commit to the future of its $3bn mine in Mount Isa beyond 2027, intensifying uncertainty for an outback community already on tenterhooks over new work arrangements at the vast site.
State Treasurer Cameron Dick said the government support package included $30 million to accelerate development of resource projects in the North West Minerals Province in the next five years and up to $20 million, to be matched dollar-for-dollar by Glencore, for an economic structural adjustment package for Mount Isa and North West Queensland.
“Our Government will back your city and your region all the way,” said Mr Dick. “Now I’m calling on Glencore to play its part and make a financial contribution to the economic support package, over and above their obligations to these workers.”
Mr Strohmayr said it was too early to put a figure on how many people may receive redundancies until options around retention, redeployment, and retraining were made.
“Redundancies are the last resort and will be offered only when other options have been exhausted,” he said. The Australian Workers Union described Glencore’s announcement as a “sad day” for the Mount Isa community. It has called on the government to “leave no stone unturned” in providing direct support to employees, warning the state’s critical mining boom would be at risk if workers left Mount Isa.
“Now is the time for the Government to cut through the green tape and fast track approvals for new mines in the region to provide a suitable transition for affected workers,” the union said “We are also calling on Glencore to provide redeployment opportunities to local workers who will be affected by these closures.”
The North West Minerals Province is estimated to have billions of dollars’ worth of “new economy” resources such as copper, cobalt, gold and graphite crucial for the manufacture of batteries and clean energy projects, as well as rare earth elements such as molybdenum, rhenium, and holmium. And independent study of the province forecast the value of its in-ground minerals at about $680bn, revenue equivalent to about 10 Queensland state budgets.
In April it emerged Glencore’s remaining Queensland copper assets could be surplus to requirements if the company succeeds in its megamerger with Canadian miner Teck.
The state’s mining, smelting and refining group was a notable absentee from the copper assets talked up by Glencore boss Gary Nagle in April.
The proposal – a deal to first combine their assets and then split into two separate coal and metals businesses – led to renewed speculation that Glencore could hang a sale sign on its Mount Isa copper mining and smelting complex, plus its Townsville refinery.
Mr Nagle told The Australian at the time that Australia had fallen behind Canada as a top tier investment jurisdiction for mining, after coal royalty hikes in Queensland in 2022 and this year’s decision by the NSW government to impose a domestic reservation policy to protect supply to its coal-fired electricity generation.
Last December, it pulled the plug on a $2bn coalmine in Queensland, backing away from the major thermal coal development in the face of the state’s royalty increases and the federal government’s industrial relations changes.
Glencore’s remaining Australian copper operations represent an increasingly minor component of its global operations. Glencore has already sold its Ernest Henry copper mine to Evolution Mining, and its Cobar mine in NSW to Metals Acquisition Corp.
Australia produced only 10.2 per cent of Glencore’s 1.06 million tonne copper output in 2022, with its three Mount Isa copper mines, plus the smelter and refinery, accounting for about 70,500 tonnes of that total.
Mount Isa City Council said it is working with Glencore to make sure the best interests of the Mount Isa community are at the centre of any changes. “The council will work hard for the community, but we cannot do it alone,” the council said. “We need the support of the State and Federal governments to guarantee good, secure jobs.”
Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (AMEC) chief executive Warren Pearce said the closure was a “wake up call” and the Queensland Government must do everything in its power to support current projects and develop new ones.
“The decision by Glencore to withdraw from Mount Isa after 60 years is a shock,” said Mr Pearce. “However, the reality is that all resources project are finite, and the when they close, the employment, wealth and community benefits they generate are hard to replace.”
