Queensland’s copper sector lives on beyond Mt Isa

Mt Isa’s underground copper mines are set to close in 2025, but Queensland explorers are looking to step into the breach.

Copper assets in Queensland are in high demand. Pic: Getty Images

With Mt Isa’s underground copper mines closing in the second half of 2025, attention is shifting to near-term copper producers in the region that could help fill an exacerbating supply gap and save roughly 1200 jobs.

The shut down includes the Enterprise, X41 and Black Rock mines, as well as one of only two copper concentrators in Australia amid a long-term downturn in domestic metals processing.

Swiss mining giant Glencore said the move was being made due to low ore grades and challenging geological conditions after 60 years of operation as one of two major domestic sources of the mineral since 1953.

The Queensland government has every incentive to keep the state’s copper sector up and running with 5000 Queenslanders employed in an industry that exports $3 billion worth of copper value.

There are several advanced explorers working hard at proving up resources and getting their projects further along the development pathway to alleviate supply pressures.

Cannindah turning heads

One such junior is Cannindah Resources (ASX:CAE) whose Mt Cannindah asset not only boasts a realistic chance of short to mid-term production but is gaining the attention of one of the world’s biggest copper producers – Chilean state-owned company, Codelco.

The project’s existing measured, indicated and inferred resource was recently upgraded from 5.5Mt to 14.5Mt at 1.09 per cent copper equivalent, constrained by an open pit design to a depth of 350m.

Speaking with Stockhead, CAE managing director Tom Pickett said there was still a bit to chase to expand resources but the project presented a robust starting point for a larger company, with significant exploration potential in prospects that surround the area.

“These other prospects we’ve identified are quite large, much larger than the resource area itself and we believe they also hold significant potential for copper and gold mineralisation,” he said.

“Larger companies around the globe are hunting for the larger porphyry systems which are lower grade but more bulk tonnage propositions of around 0.4 per cent to 0.5 per cent copper rather than the higher grade breccias that we’re seeing close to surface.

“They want to have a look at the bulk tonnage proposition that is likely to provide decades of mine life, so we have done a bit of work in relation to the possibility that these higher-grade breccia systems are being fed by a porphyry system, which will be an addition to the attractiveness of what is already a large resource.”

In terms of positioning, CAE’s Cannindah project is somewhat unique given its within a mining lease only 100km from the port of Gladstone. Pickett said the need to maintain a strong copper mining industry would see the Queensland government support miners who could deliver employment opportunities.

“The government recognises that the sector provides significant employment opportunities and as exploration spending is increased, I think there’ll be further support to reduce the amount of red tape that would otherwise be there to bring projects to fruition faster," he said.

Codelco first expressed interest in Cannindah in June 2023 with a view to enter into a potential transaction, and last month visited the project to conduct low impact ground-based exploration activity and to review drill core in Townsville.

Discussions are ongoing and if Codelco walks away, Cannindah will receive the data from Codelco’s work at no cost.

And Codelco isn't the only international player keen on Queensland's copper sector. $US6bn capped South African gold producer Harmony Gold notably stepped into the region via its acquisition of the Eva copper project north of Mt Isa in a $US230 million deal with Copper Mountain Mining in 2022.

It will get a $20.7m Queensland government grant under its Mount Isa Mining Acceleration Program should the 60,000tpa project reach FID by January 2026.

Others chasing red metal 

Further south near Rockhampton, QMines (ASX:QML)has been plugging away with maiden drilling at its Develin Creek asset – now incorporated into QML’s Mt Chalmers project.

Initial results have returned eye-opening, multi-metal assays from the Scorpion prospect, one of two deposits within the project area.

Best hits delivered 31m at 2.35 per cent copper, 0.37g/t gold, 20g/t silver, 2.37 per cent zinc and 19 per cent sulphur from 104m last month, as well as 17m at 2.88 per cent copper, 0.61 g/t gold, 21g/t silver, 2.06 per cent zinc and 24 per cent sulfur from 106m.

The explorer plans to add more tonnes to Develin Creek’s current 3.2Mt at 1.05 per cent copper and 1.22 per cent zinc resource and combine it and the 0.5Mt at 1.0g/t Au and 0.54 per cent copper Woods Shaft deposits to Mt Chalmers.

A significant discovery was made at Renegade Exploration’s (ASX:RNX) Mongoose Deeps project in July, likened in style to Evolution Mining’s (ASX:EVN) prolific, multi-billion dollar Ernest Henry copper-gold mine – a large, long-life, and nearby copper-gold operation.

The company is now narrowing in on IOCG potential in the vein of Ernest Henry and has uncovered close to surface magnetic anomalies, as well as a deep target during high-definition drone magnetics surveys.

Drilling has also focused on the Greater Mongoose area, producing several significant intersections allowing it to define an inferred resource of 3.1Mt at 0.55 per cent copper and 0.07g/t gold.

Sunshine Metals’ (ASX:SHN) Liontown asset is part of the broader Ravenswood Consolidated project in a Queensland district that has produced over 20Moz gold and 14Mt of volcanogenic massive sulphide ore containing copper, gold, zinc and lead.

Resource extension drilling has been progressing at the Gap Zone to test for extensions along strike of recent drilling that returned thick, high-grade hits of up to 16.2m at 4.54g/t gold and 1.11 per cent copper from 319m.

A scoping study is in the works for 2025.

Great expectations

Explorer Great Southern Mining (ASX:GSN) has stumbled upon an anomaly, interpreted to be a porphyry system that could host a large-scale intrusive related gold-copper and/or epithermal gold deposit.

Importantly for GSN, the identification of the anomaly marks an early success of its joint venture with G Ex Australia, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gold Fields (NYSE:GFI) that is earning a 75 per cent interest in the project by spending $15m on exploration over six years.

The 1750sq km project surrounds the ~1.7Moz equivalent Mt Carlton gold-silver-copper mine near Townsville, northern Queensland.

GSN’s executive chairman, John Terpu, was part of the team at Conquest Mining (now Evolution Mining) that discovered the Mt Carlton deposit.

And Red Metal (ASX:RDM) is getting stuck into three of its standout rare earths, copper and base metals projects in north-west QLD aided by a discounted $2m cap raise to its loyal shareholders.

The company has used some of the funds to start drilling at the Gidyea project to test a standout regional gravity anomaly for a large copper-gold breccia system in a setting similar to that of the nearby world-class Ernest Henry mining operation.

A diamond drilling campaign started in late September and is expected to move onto Lawn Hill in October, while infill AC drilling at Sybella is on schedule to start around the same time.

Encouragingly for juniors, there are strong signs the Queensland government and financiers have been willing to support the state's copper sector.

The previous Labor government, which was unseated last month by David Crisafulli's LNP, last year designated the flooded Capricorn copper mine owned by 29Metals (ASX:29M) a critical infrastructure project and the company received approval to remove limits on water discharge ahead of the wet season.

There is support from the market as well with KordaMentha announcing a deal to recapitalise small-scale Queensland copper miner True North Copper (ASX:TNC) this week via a raising for about $60m .

At Stockhead we tell it like it is. While Cannindah Resources, QMines, Renegade Exploration, Sunshine Metals, Great Southern Mining and Red Metal are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.