Business community desperately seeks solutions for Glencore’s copper conundrum
Businesses have warned of the dire consequences if Glencore proceeded with pausing its copper operations in Mount Isa and Townsville. See what they said.
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Mount Isa and Townsville’s business communities fear the adverse consequences if Glencore was to push ahead with pausing its operations at its copper smelter and refinery, endangering thousands of jobs.
The Chamber of Commerce for Mount Isa, Commerce North West, has warned of the far-reaching economic consequences and severe implications for local jobs, regional business confidence, and Queensland’s broader resource economy if Glencore placed the copper smelter into care and maintenance, or closed it completely.
Describing the smelter as the cornerstone of Mount Isa’s industrial base for more than six decades, Commerce North West (CNW) President Johno Neilsen emphasised its importance as a major employer and a critical link in NW Queensland’s mining and freight supply chains.
“This isn’t just about one facility — it’s about the heartbeat of a regional economy that underpins national exports. The ripple effects will be felt across every main street business, every freight corridor, and every mining operation that relies on a local processing pathway.”
CNW was concerned that the pause could weaken Australia’s sovereign capacity in downstream mineral processing at a time when global demand for copper was surging.
“Mount Isa should be at the centre of Australia’s critical minerals future, not at risk of being left behind. We need all levels of government and industry to work together to ensure a transition plan that protects jobs, value-adds onshore, and builds long-term resilience,” he said.
Mount Isa business Isadraulics specialises in the procurement, supply, and servicing of a comprehensive range of hydraulic components for mining and heavy industries in Mount Isa and the surrounding region.
The company’s field services manager Roland Lobegeiger told News Corp that Glencore’s move would be a “significant loss” not just for his company, but the town of Mount Isa.
“Without it, the town’s not going to be here. There are other mines – there would be other work in the area, but would the town recover? It’s hard to say,” Mr Lobegeiger said.
“It would be a significant change for a lot of businesses, homes, house prices – you name it.
“It’s definitely a bit of a dark cloud over the area. Everyone’s still optimistic that they won’t shut it down, but no one knows.”
Townsville’s Acting Mayor Ann-Maree Greaney said government and business needed to be conscious of maintaining and enhancing existing industries and capability.
“Council is engaged with industry, government and other stakeholders to support the continuation of copper processing capacity in the region,” Ms Greaney said.
“That capacity is important to the region and to the nation.”
The Port of Townsville facilitates shipping for Glencore’s operations.
A port spokeswoman said products including refined copper, copper concentrate, lead ingots and zinc concentrates were handled by Glencore operations within the Port of Townsville.
“We recognise the significance of the copper industry for the region and support ongoing collaboration to ensure the long-term strength of North Queensland’s economy,” she said.
“Port of Townsville is committed to providing the assets required to facilitate shipping to our region and supporting the economic prosperity of north and northwest Queensland,” she said.
“Port of Townsville is a diverse port handling over 30 different commodities with connections to 140 ports worldwide. Alongside supporting existing industries, we are delivering the infrastructure required to support the industries of the future including new critical minerals, renewables and advanced manufacturing opportunities in our region.”
The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union has labelled the potential shutdown Glencore’s copper processing assets as a “disaster”, with its Queensland State Secretary Rohan Webb saying it was a test of the Premier’s leadership.
“If the Premier is serious about backing Queensland jobs and keeping manufacturing alive in this state, his government must urgently come to the table with a meaningful rescue package,” Mr Webb said.
The AMWU is calling for immediate and transparent engagement between the state and federal governments, Glencore and the unions.
They are also calling for a public commitment to keep smelting and refining jobs in North Queensland.
“If David Crisafulli won’t do more to save these jobs, he’s turning his back on the workers who keep this state running,” Mr Webb said.
Calling for a deal to be struck between governments and Glencore, Townsville Enterprise chief executive Claudia Brumme-Smith warned that NQ’s copper ecosystem was a delicate house of cards.
“Remove the smelter or refinery, and the whole structure collapses – from regional communities and emerging mines to critical operations like Phosphate Hill’s fertiliser production,” Ms Brumme-Smith said.
“This region and our communities are asking for no more or no less than what we have seen in other parts of the country, recognising that in those cases hundreds of jobs were at risk verses 17,000 jobs linked to the copper supply chain here in North Queensland.
“Copper is critical to the national interest and critical to our future economies – that is why we are seeing unprecedented and growing global demand.”
Don’t sell Australia’s copper future for scrap
Opinion from Townsville Enterprise chief executive Claudia Brumme-Smith:
This week, North and Northwest Queensland stared down a devastating reality – one that could see our copper ecosystem collapse with the closure of the Mount Isa Copper Smelter and Townsville Copper Refinery.
To the workers and families in our communities we know this is a difficult time – we see you, we stand with you, and we will not stop fighting for a solution to keep our copper industry alive in North Queensland.
Let’s be clear: this is not about politics, and it’s not about Glencore. It’s about people. It’s about protecting our sovereign industrial capability and protecting thousands of jobs across North Queensland.
New economic modelling has exposed the cost of inaction: record-high unemployment, a broken regional economy, and 17,000 jobs lost across the copper supply chain. The warning couldn’t be starker.
In the same breath, Glencore announced preparations to move the smelter and refinery into care and maintenance. Next week, it will shut the doors on the century-old Mount Isa Copper Mine, signalling the end of Glencore’s strategic interest in copper in Queensland. While that chapter closes, the story of copper in this region is far from finished.
Australia holds 10 per cent of the world’s known copper reserves and the Mount Isa Smelter and Townsville Refinery are the only facilities that will take copper from mines all over the country for processing and manufacturing. Copper is a strategic mineral – indispensable to clean energy, defence, technology and economic security. Demand is booming. The question is whether Australia will meet that demand – or send our potential and our jobs offshore?
We’ve seen governments step up to save smelters elsewhere. In South Australia, Whyalla Steelworks was saved. In Tasmania, the Nyrstar Smelter was kept open. Both were deemed critical to the national interest. North Queensland deserves no less – in fact, the stakes here are even greater.
This is not a handout. This is a call for parity. In Whyalla and Tasmania, hundreds of jobs were on the line. Here, it’s 17,000. And the ripple effects will be far worse – from risking the shutdown of the fertiliser production at Phosphate Hill, to the collapse of supply chains that support small businesses and emerging mines across our region.
This is about more than industrial infrastructure. It’s about people – workers, families and businesses who are staring into a void of uncertainty. The copper ecosystem in North Queensland is a delicate house of cards. Remove the smelter or refinery, and everything comes crashing down.
And this isn’t just a regional issue – it’s a national one. If these assets close, we lose the ability to process our own copper onshore. We lose the value, the jobs, and the strategic control. We give up a sovereign resource.
Next week, we’ll be in Canberra with the mayors of Townsville and Mount Isa, united in our call to keep copper in North Queensland. We’re not looking to assign blame. We’re focused on finding a solution.
We know the path forward is complex. But we also know what’s at stake if we don’t act.
This isn’t about Glencore or politics, it’s about all parties reaching a deal in our local, regional and national interest.
Key concerns raised by Commerce North West
• Job losses in the hundreds across both direct employees and local contractors
• Economic flow-on impacts to business throughout Mount Isa and North Queensland.
• Disruption to the mining value chain, with increased transport costs and potential mine viability issues
• Decline in rail and freight volumes, affecting the Mount Isa–Townsville supply corridor
• Loss of regional population and skilled workforce, with long-term implications for education, housing, and health services
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