The dust has settled, the noise dimmed and the tabloid headlines muted. Now’s the time to get down to sorting out the future of the North West Minerals Province.

This is the focus of the North West MPX 2025 being held in the inland city this week (May 6-8).

Glencore’s Queensland Metals is expected to detail the future of the copper smelter early in the new financial year. 

This follows the announced closure of the Mount Isa Copper Operations which starts with the underground mines and potentially the copper concentrator.

The copper smelter is also on the closure schedule, subject to a funding review.

Supply from emerging and existing third-party mining could sustain ongoing smelter operations, MPX event organiser Emma Harman said.

“That smelter can form the hub of copper production in the North West and it needs to remain viable long-term.

“I would like to see some certainty around the copper smelter so that every four or five years, whenever it needs re-bricking, we don’t need to worry about if it is going to continue. If we had certainty that the copper smelter was going to continue long-term, then it gives everybody in the region a boost. 

“It means that all of these new mines and mines that are just coming online, mines that are being explored and developed at the moment, have got a future, because they’ve got a place where they can send their product to be smelted.” 

The conference has been boosted with confirmation that Resources Minister Dale Last will present at MPX.

“It’s a recognition by the government that the North West Minerals Province is incredibly important to the whole of Queensland. That we are incredibly rich and diverse in the minerals and metals that we have in the ground here. 

“It’s not just copper and lead and zinc and gold, the usual ones, but we have such a wide range of resources like phosphate and cobalt and vanadium and lots of others that are imperative to green energy and the world’s demand going forward. 

“So we have an incredible amount of wealth here, but we need the government to work with proponents to create an effective and an efficient way of doing mining to ensure that we get the most out of it all.” 

The event starts today (Tuesday, May 6) with a welcome reception at Mount Isa City Council. The minister presents mid-morning Wednesday. There are technical presentations by Ausenco, consultancy Redefining Resources and Geological Survey of Queensland.

Among other presenters are senior executive of government agency Critical Minerals Queensland Paul Holden and Cobalt Blue’s project acquisition manager Dr Helen Degeling.

North West Phosphate, Harmony Eva Copper and AIC Mines are among the operations presenting over the two-day event.

The event is staged by Commerce North West.