Why are North Queensland’s junior miners struggling to keep going?

Why are junior mines struggling to develop in North Queensland? A vocal regional MP believes the reason comes down to contradicting values among the bureaucrats.

Mine trucks carting ore at a copper minesite in the Cloncurry area.

A North Queensland MP claims departments and entities are getting in each others’ way despite the state government’s good intentions to export billions of dollars in critical minerals to the world, as his region confronts more than 1600 job cuts.

Although the North West Minerals Province holds hope in vanadium development in Julia Creek and Richmond, as well as the Eva-Harmony prospect in Cloncurry, Traeger MP Robbie Katter warns expenses and bureaucracy jeopardises these opportunities.

“Whether it’s through ideology or just overzealous bureaucratic approaches, well, the fact remains that I get multiple players in the region saying they have no problem with Department of Mines but the Department of Environment is definitely holding up progress of existing operations or new mining operations,” Mr Katter said.

“It’s a good time for the government to realise that this stuff doesn’t just fall in your lap, you’ve got to create conditions that can allow either existing mines to keep expanding or new ones to pop up.”

Cloncurry Mayor Greg Campbell estimated 400 jobs have been lost in recent months from the financial woes of three junior mining companies in the area.

Traeger MP Robbie Katter photographed at the lookout overlooking Mount Isa Mines and the city. Photo: Joanna Giemza-Meehan

He believe the seriousness of this issue has been overlooked by policy makers focused on the implications of 1200 Glencore Mount Isa Mines workers expected to be made redundant by July.

Mr Katter agreed with the estimate of 400 job losses in Cloncurry, but said it should not be compared to MIM redundancies.

“You’re not comparing apples with apples,” Mr Katter said.

Cloncurry Mayor Greg Campbell said about 400 jobs had been affected by three different mines’ financial woes in his shire in recent months. Picture: Liam Kidston

“You talk about copper mines that have been there 100 years that a whole city has based its economy on largely, where Cloncurry has been blessed with a bit more diversity, and you know, a bit more heavy influence in the cattle industry.

“Now, not withstanding, it’s still a blow and hurts and it’s definitely part of the story.”

South African mining giant Harmony is considering developing its Eva mine 75km north of Cloncurry, which would support 800 jobs in its construction phase.

Harmony Gold Mining Company chief operating officer of business development and growth Johannes Van Heerden provides an update on the company’s plans for its mine in the Cloncurry region. Picture: Scott Radford-Chisholm

It is yet to financially commit to the project despite a $20.7m sweetener by the former Labor State Government to fast-track its decision, as Glencore’s job cuts loom.

But Mr Katter was concerned that high costs in infrastructure, transport and energy, as well as water supply, could discourage the company, as it had weighed on others.

He said there was contention over securing water from nearby Lake Julius which was maintained by SunWater and meant to be used for additional water supply, but Mr Katter accused the government entity of being motivated by profit rather than development.

Map overview of the Eva Harmony project in the North West Minerals Province. It is 75km north of Cloncurry and next to the existing MMG mine Dugald River.

Mr Campbell said Eva had been “marketed as the salvation of Mount Isa” even though it was not in the same local government area, and warned there needed to be a strong pipeline of ore being produced to feed Mount Isa Mines’ copper smelter as long as possible, which was a significant piece of infrastructure that kept other company assets viable, such as Incitec Pivot.

“But the Eva project, (we’re) hopeful that we’ll see an investment decision sometime in the first half of 2025,” Mr Campbell said.

Recently appointed Resources Minister Dale Last was on leave, but a message the government’s resources spokespeople have repeated is that Queensland was “open for business”.

The Mount Isa Mines copper smelter is a significant piece of infrastructure which Glencore has considered closing in the past. With the closure of its local copper mines, the mining giant will use third party ore to feed the smelter. Picture: Scott Radford-Chisholm

Among Mr Last’s and Premier David Crisafulli’s first meetings was with Glencore’s international chief executive over Mount Isa redundancies, and Mr Last had emphasised on social media the need to fast-track the approvals process.

Originally published as Why are North Queensland’s junior miners struggling to keep going?