Austral Resources (ASX: AR1) has secured a $15 million investment from the Queensland government-owned QIC Queensland Critical Minerals Fund to plan an expansion of its Rocklands copper processing plant in North West Queensland.

The study would assess lifting the plant’s processing capacity from 3.0Mt a year to between 4.5 and 6.0Mt.

Chairman David Newling said the fund’s support was, “a significant milestone for Austral and a strong endorsement of both the Rocklands processing facility and our long-term strategy”.

Main image: Rocklands Run of Mine

The funding is structured as a non-dilutive royalty financing arrangement, meaning Austral raised the capital without issuing new shares.

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It will initially pay for a scoping study into a Stage 2 expansion of Rocklands, including alternative power options.

Austral said its existing 3.0Mt capacity was expected to be fully used by its own sulphide ore production until at least 2034.

That feed would come from the company’s Western and Eastern operations, drawing on recently re-optimised resource estimates.

Austral holds in-situ copper resources of 64 million tonnes grading 0.73 per cent, across its Lady Annie and Rocklands projects.

Rocklands builds resilience

Minister for Natural Resources and Mines Dale Last said processing capacity remained a key barrier to new projects in the region.

“Processing capacity is one of the biggest barriers to unlocking new critical minerals projects,” Mr Last said.

“Expanding Rocklands strengthens the infrastructure our strategy identifies as essential to bringing new mines into production and attracting investment across the North West Minerals Province.”

Fund manager Joshua Risson said Rocklands had “the potential to become critical regional infrastructure”, unlocking stranded copper across the North West.

The company said the expansion could help establish Rocklands as a regional copper processing hub, including toll treating for third parties.

Under the royalty, Austral would pay the fund 0.80 per cent of Rocklands’ gross revenue for the first 200,000 tonnes of contained copper produced.

The rate would fall to 0.30 per cent for the next 200,000 tonnes of contained copper, then cease.

A higher rate would apply if Austral failed to reach commercial-scale production and make a first payment by the end of 2028.

Austral said the Rocklands restart remained on schedule, with first production on track for the September quarter of 2027.

It produces LME Grade A copper cathode from its Mt Kelly operation in the Mt Isa region, and is targeting 50,000 tonnes a year.

Disclaimer: The author is an AR1 shareholder.