Latest news with #MtIsa
Bloomberg
7 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Glencore to Shut Australian Copper Mines With Smelter on Brink
Glencore Plc is on track to close its last two copper mines in Mt Isa, Queensland, next week, ahead of a decision on whether to also shutter a smelter at the same complex. A shutdown of the mines — which have been operating for more than six decades — would end Glencore's upstream copper operations in Australia, according to a spokesperson. The company announced the plan in October 2023 following a review that found they were no longer viable given declining ore grades.
Daily Mail
17-06-2025
- Daily Mail
Crash survivor who lost her mum when a ute smashed into their car forced to sit in soiled nappies at school
A child who survived a head-on crash that killed her mother has been forced to sit in soiled nappies at school after her bid for a carer was knocked back. Mum-of-two Natasha Wilson was taking her kids to get ice cream at McDonald's after school in Mt Isa, in northwest Queensland, in 2019 when a ute hit their car. Natasha was killed while her two-year-old daughter, Amateil Speers, was left with brain and spinal injuries and her older brother Mason suffered a broken neck. Amateil is in year three at Raceview State School in Ipswich after defying medical concerns that she would never walk or have proper use of her bowels and bladder. The eight-year-old can use the toilet at home with assistance but is unable to do so at school without support, so she is made to wear pull-up nappies that staff change twice a day during lunch breaks. The National Injury Insurance Scheme has offered to fund a full-time carer to help Amateil to the bathroom during class, but her grandmother claims the school has turned this down. Grandmother Sharon Wilson said Amateil has come home on several occasions with different clothes on because her nappy wasn't changed before it soaked through her own pants. She also fears the young girl will have to undergo unnecessary bladder surgery if she is unable to use the toilet at school. 'No matter what Amateil has been through, "Oh she'll be okay, just put her in a corner and forget about her",' Ms Wilson said. 'You can't do that. Her injuries are part of her, that's what makes her, so just take her seriously. 'It's so frustrating, just trying to get someone to listen and understand what we're going through,' she said. For Amateil, she just wants to be like the other kids at school. 'I don't like the silly decisions the grown ups are doing. I just want to play with my friends but I can't,' she said. A spokesperson for the Queensland Department of Education denied rejecting any requests for Amateil to be given access to a support worker. 'The school has no record of the alleged incident and has not declined a support worker,' they said. Shine Lawyers is currently representing the family in a Compulsory Third Party insurance claim from the crash in 2019. There has been no civil claim launched against the school, but Shine Lawyers solicitor Madeleine Routley hopes Amateil will receive the care she needs. 'The school is robbing this young girl of her dignity,' she said. 'It would really empower her in terms of her recovery, because using the toilet is something doctors thought she'd never be able to do.' The Department of Education spokesperson said the school took health issues seriously and would continue to provide supports for Amateil. 'Students' health needs are always a top priority, and the school continues to work with the family and a team of health workers to implement and review the current toileting plan to support the student. 'Teacher aides are always available to assist if needed, and the school has recently upgraded the bathroom to cater exclusively for this student's needs. 'The department will not provide any further information to respect the dignity of this student.'
Daily Mail
12-06-2025
- Climate
- Daily Mail
Coldest night in more than 40 years: Aussies shiver through temperatures as low as -4C
Millions of Australians shivered through freezing temperatures overnight with some parts of the country recording their coldest night in decades. Mt Isa, in north-west Queensland, recorded its coldest June night in 44 years after temperatures plunged to -0.7C. Further east, in Richmond, a minimum temperature of -0.1C was the first sub-zero night in 13 years. Oakey on the Darling Downs reached a low of -4.2C. 'What we're seeing is a very stubborn high pressure system sitting over the east coast,' the Bureau of Meteorology's Jonathon How told Daily Mail Australia. 'It's made up of light wind, clear skies and cool air; the clear sky does mean that temperature can drop overnight. 'We are expecting another frosty night across Queensland tonight.' In NSW, the cold snap blanketed the Central Tablelands in snow and temperatures sank below freezing. Sydneysiders have been warned to expect scattered showers and tops of 16C. A southerly airstream has continued dragging cold air up the east coast, likely to bring wetter weather into the weekend. Showers are expected to develop from Thursday night along the exposed eastern NSW as a trough sits offshore. A low pressure system in the Tasman Sea and a high over the Great Australian Bight combined to push the south-westerly air over Queensland and New South Wales. 'Showers along the coastal fringe, couple thunderstorms though most of it is sort of offshore,' he said. The eastern suburbs could see possible showers today, before light showers become more widespread on Friday. Melbourne will remain drier heading into the end of the week after multiple rounds of showers fell across Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. Many of the areas to receive the dampening had endured a record dry start to the year, with farmers saying more rain was needed to break the drought. 'Southern and south-eastern Australia will need to see more healthy rain-bearing systems this winter to further reduce or wipe out the longer-term rainfall deficiencies,' Weatherzone wrote at the time. Gusty showers and potential storms developing across southern Western Australia on Friday as a cold front clips the bottom of the state. The front is tipped to reach Adelaide on Saturday, bringing showers to some of the driest regions of the state. The Mid North of the state looks likely to miss out on the much-needed rain, but the upper Eyre Peninsula –which has seen the least rainfall all year– should receive some of the showers. 'That cold front will track across South Australia and reach Adelaide on Saturday, in terms of rainfall, any is welcome,' Mr How said. The bureau is expecting about 10mm of rain in the SA capital on Saturday before the system moves over Victoria and weakens on Sunday. 'There is another coming on Monday from the same direction,' Mr How said. Sydney Friday: Shower or two. Min 10C. Max 16C. Saturday: Shower or two. Min 11C. Max 17C. Sunday: Partly cloudy. Min 9C. Max 18C. Perth Friday: Showers. Min 11C. Max 21C Saturday: Partly cloudy. Min 6C. Max 20C Sunday: Shower or two. Min 10C. Max 20C Adelaide Friday: Mostly sunny. Min 7C. Max 18C. Saturday: Showers. Min 8C. Max 16C. Sunday: Shower or two. Min 8C. Max 16C. Melbourne Friday: Mostly sunny. Min 3C. Max 14C. Saturday: Partly cloudy. Min 3C. Max 13C. Sunday: Possible shower. Min 7C. Max 15C. Hobart Friday: Mostly sunny. Min 3C. Max 14C. Saturday: Mostly sunny. Min 4C. Max 15C. Sunday: Partly cloudy. Min 4C. Max 15C. Canberra Friday: Morning frost. Partly cloudy. Min -1C. Max 13C. Saturday: Morning frost. Partly cloudy. Min -1C. Max 14C. Sunday: Morning frost. Partly cloudy. Min 1C. Max 13C. Brisbane Friday: Sunny. Min 8C. Max 19C. Saturday: Sunny. Min 8C. Max 21C. Sunday: Sunny. Min 10C. Max 23C. Darwin Friday: Sunny. Min 19C. Max 30C. Saturday: Sunny. Min 19C. Max 30C.
News.com.au
23-05-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Barry FitzGerald: Hammer returns to take a swing at one of WA's hottest gold prospects
'Garimpeiro' columnist Barry FitzGerald has covered the resources industry for 35 years. Now he's sharing the benefits of his experience with Stockhead readers. Investors would be hard pressed to find a modestly capitalised junior explorer with stronger newsflow in coming months than Hammer Metals (ASX:HMX). There's plenty of potential game changing stuff too for a company that has a hard asset backstop to its current $26.6 million market cap at 3c a share. The backstop is the Kalman copper-gold-molybdenum-rhenium project in the Mt Isa region. It is a 429,000t copper equivalent resource which Garimpeiro reckons more than covers Hammer's market cap. It will be developed one day, probably wrapped into a consolidated copper play, with its moly component coming into its own following China – the world's main producer of the steel alloying agent – moving it into its basket of export-controlled metals. But enough on Kalman. It is nice to have but it is on the exploration front that Hammer could generate some near-term excitement. It has got loads of exploration results to come from exploration joint ventures in the Mt Isa district with big names like Sumitomo and South 32 where the targets are very much of the tier-1 type, as well as a bunch of results from 100% owned project in and around the district. Again, newsflow from all the activity (completed and planned) will be as good as it gets for a junior explorer with Hammer's modest market cap. Leverage to success is extreme, remembering there is always the backstop of Kalman should a meaningful discovery prove to be elusive this time around. But wait, there's more! In a back to the future moment, Hammer is returning to the Yandal gold belt near Wiluna in Western Australia, specifically its Bronzewing South project next door to Northern Star Resources' (ASX:NST) Bronzewing project. The latter was acquired by the gold major in 2019, and is a former producer of more than three million ounces of gold. There was a time when Bronzewing South was hotly contested exploration ground thanks to its proximity to Bronzewing, discovered by a joint venture between Joe Gutnick's Great Central Mines (GCM) and prospecting billionaire Mark Creasy in 1992. Competing applications for the Bronzewing South ground prompted the Mining Warden to decide the matter in a ballot, much to the annoyance of Creasy in his private capacity. He took the dispute all the way to the High Court. No luck there for him, with the Bronzewing South ground eventually going to a no longer with us company in 1997. In the meantime, drilling by GCM in 1995 identified a high-grade mineralised zone (2m at 20.8g/t gold at 450m depth) just inside the boundary from Bronzewing South. Newmont Corporation (ASX:NEM) (it acquired Bronzewing when it took over Normandy Mining in 2002, with Normandy having acquired GCM in 1999), followed up the hit in 2003 drilling, targeting a position 150m lower than the GCM intercept. Hidden gems The drilling confirmed the continuation of mineralisation at lower grades. But Newmont later exited the project, which changed hands a couple of times before Hammer picked it up in 2019 and drilled a single RC hole down to 135m. At 120m, it hit 1m at 1.2 g/t gold, which demonstrated the zone was present. But Hammer got distracted at the time by copper exploration success in the Mt Isa region and hasn't been back since. The zone literally starts on the tenement boundary less than 150m from the original Bronzewing discovery. So it could be a nice deep hidden zone that has effectively had no drilling into it whatsoever. That's the focus of a drilling program planned for late June/early July by Hammer. In the words of Hammer managing director Dan Thomas, 'we're going to give it a good shake.'
