General News
26 February, 2025
Mount Isa's future appears green after roadmap released
The Future Ready Economy Roadmap lays out a plan to support the rollout of “carbon neutral” enterprise in the city.
Mount Isa City Council has unveiled the final report in its bold plan to diversify the city’s economy and reduce its reliance on a single employer, with calls for state and federal government assistance to support $2.7 billion worth of “clean energy and future-technology” initiatives.
The Future Ready Economy Roadmap report lays out a plan to support the rollout of “carbon neutral” enterprise in the city by transforming Mount Isa into a viable location for proponents of emerging and experimental green technologies seeking to gain a foothold in the Australian market.
The roadmap includes more than 400 potential actions for local stakeholders, industry, government and community to diversify the economy across five key industry sectors – energy, mining and minerals, transport, agriculture, and tourism. It follows several other preliminary reports that identified pillars of the Mount Isa economy and developed initial diversification options.
Many of the actions detailed in the roadmap are already long-standing public policy objectives for the council, such as increasing tourist numbers through targeted campaigning, lobbying for better road and rail investment as well as common user infrastructure, supporting initiatives to raise agricultural output, improve the quality of housing across the city and developing more opportunities for local workers to upskill.
The report also briefly mentions that the construction of a local correctional facility could be beneficial to the city’s economy.
But, more broadly, the roadmap contains a consistent message that the city is well-positioned to catch the predicted wave of private and public investment geared towards “carbon neutral” enterprise.
The report gives specific mention to the CopperString project and the $680 billion critical mineral resources planned for extraction across the North West as large-scale projects that will unlock broader potential across the local economy.
The roadmap suggests this new investment can be attracted by aligning Mount Isa’s fortunes to some state and federal government policy ambitions to transition the economy to becoming carbon neutral over the coming decades.
“In Australia, net zero policies include the Future Made in Australia Plan to boost domestic industrial capability and secure future trade, and the Queensland Energy and Jobs Plan to transform the state’s energy system over the next 15 years,” the roadmap report states.
“This global and national context is critical to consider as Mount Isa navigates its own economic challenges.
“With the right planning and investment, Mount Isa can be a global player in a decarbonising world by producing and exporting critical minerals and materials.
“Council seeks a greater investment from the Queensland and Australian governments – a significant investment and support package is needed to respond to immediate economic challenges, transform and diversify the economy, build resilience, and sustain Mount Isa’s contribution to the national economy and global decarbonisation.”
The central pillar of the council program, which the report says requires “immediate action”, is the development of The Australian Critical Minerals Industrial Precinct (TACMIP), which is slated to be located on several hundred acres of Glencore-controlled land along the Barkly Highway near George Fisher Mine.
The TACMIP facility would become a central hub to attract and house a range of these proposed carbon neutral businesses, including the Flying Whales logistics company as well as a pyrite tailings re-processing plant and a university centre for critical minerals research.
Several of the companies proposed to be located at TACMIP have signed memorandums of understanding with council in the past six months, which establish mutual long-term intentions.
The effort to establish TACMIP is also already underway, with a number of council delegations to Brisbane and Canberra undertaken in recent months in an attempt to drum up support for the estimated $50 million required to construct the facility.
Work on the roadmap report began under the stewardship of former mayor Danielle Slade, just weeks after Glencore announced its intention to close its Mount Isa Copper Operations (MICO) underground production in October 2023.
A chance encounter between Mount Isa council chief executive officer Tim Rose and consultants from Brisbane-based economic development group The Next Economy began the creation of the report, which included widespread feedback from more than 70 businesses and community organisations.
Mount Isa mayor Peta MacRae said the report aimed to define the next chapter of the city’s future.
“We understand that to attract investment, we must put in the work, and without a clear plan and evidence base we would be going nowhere,” she told the gathering at the official launch on Friday.
“To meet the scale of Mount Isa’s challenge requires an equally significant response.
“We have identified priority projects to create jobs and strengthen our economy, now and into the future.”
PRIORITY PROJECTS FOR MOUNT ISA
1. Critical Minerals and Rare Earths Research Centre.
2. Battery Anode Material (BAM) project.
3. Acid production from pyrite in mine tailings.
4. Fertiliser and battery acid plant.
5. Green Gravity.
6. Flying Whales.
7. Truck amenities and fuel depot.
8. New correctional facility.