The Mount Isa Mines (MIM) operation is one of Australia’s largest and most complex mining and processing operations, located in the city of Mount Isa in North-West Queensland.

Operated by Glencore, the site comprises extensive mining, smelting and processing facilities producing copper, lead, zinc and silver.

Mining at Mount Isa began in the 1920s, and the operation has since developed into a major integrated mining complex.

The site includes separate copper and zinc-lead-silver underground mines, with ore extracted from deep deposits using advanced underground mining methods.

The underground copper operations, Enterprise and X41, wrapped up in 2025 after more than 70 years of continuous production.

Copper concentrate is smelted on site to produce copper anodes, which are then transported to the Glencore owned Copper Refineries Limited in Townsville for final refining.

The zinc-lead-silver stream produces concentrates that are also processed and exported to international smelters.

The operation includes a copper smelter, lead smelter and associated infrastructure, making it one of the few fully integrated base-metal processing hubs in Australia.

Mount Isa Mines employs thousands of workers and supports a large regional supply chain.

As a cornerstone of the North West Minerals Province, it plays a critical role in Australia’s base-metals industry and global supply of copper, zinc, lead and silver.