Isa’s copper upside is worth the challenge

The difficulty in tapping a resource to replace Mount Isa Copper Operations (MICO) is in direct proportion to its potential. Owner Glencore has announced the closure of MICO in 2025 with the smelter slated for closure in 2030. Main image: Austral Resources bundled copper awaiting dispatch from the Lady Annie operation near Mount Isa One message from the geologists is clear. The copper is there. That comes from of the Director of Minerals Geoscience at the Geological Survey of Queensland (GSQ), Dr Janelle Kerr. Dr Kerr will be hosting a field trip through the John Campbell Miles Drill Core Facility on Thursday, May 9 as part of the North West MPX conference held in Mount Isa. GSQ researchers were gaining clarity, she said. “There are vast areas of Mount Isa that are undercover, about two thirds of the (Mount Isa) Minerals Province,” Dr Kerr said. "Not all of that is explorable.” Dr Janelle Kerr "Some of it is quite deep, but there are still huge opportunities for discovery in areas with shallower cover. It is inconceivable that the deposits aren’t there, if you look at the density of deposits in the outcrop and then compare that to how few we've got undercover, they have to be there. "We are working supporting discovery and to my mind there are really two keys – understanding what to look for and having the right data to identify where the targets are.” said Dr Kerr. "One work program we have invested in, is understanding our known deposits. Understanding generated from studying these deposits will help inform what datasets we should collect to spot the footprint of a new deposits. That's been a huge amount of work done in collaboration with a range of industry and research partners,” she said. "This is work that's been done in our mineral systems team. (Dr) Vladimir Lisitsin is the head of that team, and he's got an incredible group of people working with him. "There're geologists and geochemists, including isotopic geochemists, there's people who run high-tech equipment, there're postdocs and there're university collaborators. "That team is pulling together this body of knowledge about the deposits that we have. "The research has buy-in from companies who supply the core we study, and we have amassed core from a range of deposits across Queensland. "We've done this for over 50 sites in the North West and the North East and then they’re throwing everything at it. "That includes HyLogger, geochemistry, micro-analytics, dating and petrophysics, whatever they can do to understand these deposits and generate knowledge to give to companies. "The team's been doing this work for five, six years, and they're coming towards the delivery phase of a lot of this information now. They will be reporting results at our upcoming GSQ Technical Roadshow in Mount Isa in August. “I'm blown away by how good the work they're doing is. It's definitely something to keep eyes on.” Dr Vladimir Lisitsin is manager of minerals systems team in GSQ. He is leading a diverse team of geoscientists undertaking extensive pre-competitive data acquisition and collaborative research to assist mineral exploration in Queensland. Current activities of the team focus on comprehensive characterisation of key mineral deposit types across Queensland, their critical mineral potential and improved methods for discovery of new deposits.

Isa’s copper upside is worth the challenge

Industry Queensland

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