Premier backs Katter on Mount Isa mining future

Premier Steven Miles has vowed that any government he leads will do what it can to identify an alternative owner for the Mount Isa copper operations Glencore plans to close. Speaking in Parliament yesterday, Mr Miles said he backed Member for Traeger Robbie Katter on the matter. "... If there is a viable owner willing to step up and run the mine, we will do all that we can do to facilitate the transfer of ownership, including the introduction and passage of legislation," he said. "That's how strongly we on this side of the house agree with the Member for Traeger on this issue. "This is too important to fold over like those opposite have done with the Queensland Resource Council. This is too important for our State's future. We want to see Mount Isa thrive." It comes after the Clean Economy Jobs, Resources and Transport Committee recommended against passing Mr Katter's Mount Isa Mines Limited Agreement (Continuing Mining Activities) Amendment Bill 2024. The private member’s Bill seeks to amend the Mount Isa Mines Limited Agreement Act 1985 in order to ensure the continuation of mining operations in Mount Isa. The Bill was born after Glencore announced plans to close its Mount Isa Mines underground copper operations and copper concentrator in the second half of 2025. Those operations and supporting services employ about 1200 people. The committee found that the Bill did not provide sufficient justification for the restriction of ordinary business activities. A Glencore spokesman said the Premier's political posturing in Parliament only served to further erode business confidence in Queensland. "The Katter Private Member Bill is unnecessary, unworkable, increases sovereign risk and has an entirely unrealistic approach to the reality of complex mining operations," he said. Mr Katter said that Katter's Australian Party would also be seeking a commitment from the Opposition on the Mount Isa operations. "If you're a miner in Queensland and you have a mine that you just want to let sit there when others want to use it and keep it producing, you shouldn't be able to just sit on it," he said. "And today in Queensland Parliament for the first time we've had a commitment to say that we're no longer going to tolerate that. We had the Premier of Queensland saying that Glencore in Mount Isa won't be able to just walk away from a resource, that is the copper mine in Mount Isa and put their resources into their other copper mines around the world at the expense of Queensland where there's other buyers that want to go in and keep that operating." Last year, Mount Isa Mines contributed $2.6 billion to the economy and provided jobs for 4350 people.

Premier backs Katter on Mount Isa mining future

Industry Queensland

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