20-06-2025
Copper mining and Mount Isa go hand-in-hand. Can one survive without the other?
Dotted along an outback Queensland horizon, mining stacks rise from the red dirt below.
Marking the epicentre of one of the richest mineral deposits in the world, these towering cylinders bear the residue of more than 100 years of blood, sweat and tears.
For all that time, mining has sustained the city at its doorstep — Mount Isa.
Eighteen months ago, Swiss commodity trader Glencore announced it would close a significant portion of its Mount Isa Mines complex — the underground copper operation — by July this year.
In that time, the company has reduced the expected redundancies from 1,200 to 500.
But that hasn't eased the next big threat: to shutter other key assets if government doesn't intervene.
Separated only by the width of a rail track, it's hard to distinguish where the Mount Isa Mines (MIM) complex ends and the community begins.
It's always been that way.
Prospector John Campbell Miles stumbled upon the rocky outcrops that would become the city in 1923.
A year later, Mount Isa was born.
"From those days, Mount Isa has always been fighting for our existence," local historian Kim-Maree Burton said.
From company takeovers to stock market turmoil to industrial disputes, the local community has weathered each storm in its path.
"It's our character, regardless of the parental ownership, MIM is part and parcel of this city," she said.
"Could we have a city without the mine? I don't think so. Could we have the mine without the city? I don't think so.
"We're two peas in a pod, we need each other."
That's a sentiment shared by many of the 19,000 residents who call the place home.
A born and bred Mount Isan, former local business owner Brett Peterson wasn't surprised when Glencore announced it was ceasing operations at the underground copper site.
Threats to shutter other key assets like the copper smelter in Mount Isa and copper refinery in Townsville have stoked fears far and wide.
"I don't want Mount Isa to end up as a small town, there's too much happening here," he said.
Mount Isa is home to one of only two copper smelters in Australia and is the only one that can process third-party product.
In countries like China and Indonesia, treatment costs are heavily subsidised by local governments.
In a statement, Glencore interim chief operating officer Troy Wilson said the company could not keep up.
"Smelters and refineries like those in Mount Isa and Townsville must be able to compete internationally to survive," Mr Wilson said.
The company admitted these assets could close "this year if we cannot reach an agreement with the Queensland or federal governments."
Four-yearly maintenance on the copper smelter to the tune of $30 million is due in 2026.
But Glencore is seeking a much larger bailout, making a pointed comparison to the Whyalla Steelworks, which received a $2.4 billion package in February.
Queensland Premier David Crisafulli has been vocal on the need for these assets to stay operational, but neither the state nor federal government has promised any solid funding yet.
"Mount Isa's been pretty good to Glencore over a long period of time, I think Glencore needs to be pretty good to Mount Isa now because that is a city on its knees," Mr Crisafulli told the ABC earlier in June.
In a statement, a spokesperson for federal Minister for Industry and Innovation Tim Ayres said the Australian government was monitoring the situation and discussions were continuing.
"Closure of the smelter would have downstream impacts for a number of facilities … the Australian government will work with the Queensland government on the path ahead."
You only have to look at the remnants of once-bustling mining towns nearby to know what's at stake.
The town of Mary Kathleen 50 kilometres from Mount Isa was born off the back of the uranium boom of the 1950s.
At its peak, the community was entirely self-sufficient, with homes, a school, cinema, even an Olympic-sized swimming pool.
But by 1982, when the ore deposit was exhausted, the town was stripped bare and sold off at auction.
Mount Isa's population is already projected to decline, and the city council is preparing for a worst-case scenario of 50 per cent if no other projects start up.
But long-time residents are confident Mount Isa won't suffer the same fate as its neighbour.
"Mary Kathleen was totally different, it was a company town," Ms Burton said.
President of Commerce North West Johno Neilsen points to Mount Isa's critical role as a service hub in the outback as proof the city will survive.
"We've got the largest hospital in the region; health is a major employer.
"That's the saving grace; there's a lot of industries that are still prevalent in town."
For Mr Peterson, the looming threat of further closures isn't enough to make him pack up and abandon the city he's lived in all his life.
"But we need to see some change on the horizon," he said.
