General News
3 July, 2024
KAP pushes bill that has power to move on Mount Isa miner
The MP spoke at a committee hearing in Brisbane last week.
Robbie Katter has renewed his calls for the Mount Isa Mines Act to be amended to allow the state government to take the lease off Glencore if it is no longer mining in the city.
The Member for Traeger last week briefed the Clean Economy Jobs, Resources and Transport Committee on the case for the Mount Isa Mines Limited Agreement Amendment Bill, saying it was not an anti-Glencore bill but a pro-Queensland one.
“The future of copper production in Queensland should not be at the whim of a commodity trader – regardless of their integrity – it should be representatives of the Queensland people,” Mr Katter said.
The committee is due to report back in November on the bid by Katter’s Australian Party to loosen Glencore’s hold on Mount Isa mineral assets.
Mr Katter pointed to Evolution Mining’s success in extending the expected life of the Ernest Henry copper-gold mine after buying it from Glencore.
The MP told the committee that he believed other mining companies were interested in taking over Glencore’s Mount Isa copper operations.
“They have made enquiries saying, ‘can we talk?’, but the leaseholder has said, ‘We’re not interested in selling’,” Mr Katter said in the briefing.
“It seems a strange set of circumstances in this state where there is a resource that provides 1200 jobs and copper production to fulfil the aspirations of the government both at a state and a federal level but the person who was granted that lease has said, ‘We can’t be bothered mining that anymore. It is easier to do that somewhere else,’ and the Queensland minister says, ‘There’s nothing we can do about it.’
“This legislation addresses that problem. It gives the minister and the government the right to do something about it.”
The committee questioned Mr Katter over what led to his belief that there was still a significant copper reserve at Mount Isa that could be mined.
“If you are after empirical data, that is pretty difficult because you can only get that from Glencore, the current leaseholder, and they perhaps would not be so forthcoming with the viability of their copper for commercial reasons,” he said.
“As was said to me by a couple of people in the industry who are higher level participants, go and look at their annual report.
“Look at the number of tonnes they report to their shareholders to show off – ‘We’ve got this many tonnes of copper there’ –and look at the current price of copper.
“Beyond that, most people would say – whether or not it is problematic – that is a huge opportunity. For other evidence along those lines, look at the Ernest Henry mine.
“Glencore sold the Cobar copper mine a few years ago and Ernest Henry, which was their next biggest copper mine.
“They repeatedly told the public there were only four years left to run at Ernest Henry.
“They sold it to Evolution Mining, which is a junior Australian mining company from Tasmania.
“They said, ‘This is a really big mine for us to purchase,’ and within a year they had raised extra capital and set a long-term plan in place. Within 18 months of owning it they had added 17 years to a mine that definitely only had four years left to run.”
Katter’s Australian Party’s Mount Isa Mines Limited Agreement Amendment Bill is open to written submissions from the public until Wednesday, July 10.
It is expected Glencore will make a submission.