Business
26 March, 2025
Quartz first, then copper: Mount Isa Minerals
A new mining project is about to take off in Mount Isa.
Amid the constant discussion about the pressures facing new projects in the North West, one junior miner is seeking to hasten the process by focusing on the in-demand stones scattered on the ground.
Mount Isa Minerals controls more than 350km2 of tenements directly across the train line from the Glencore leases about 12km west of the city.
And while these tenements, which were first explored by Mount Isa Mines more than 50 years ago, are uncovering a plethora of copper, uranium and gallium deposits, Mount Isa Minerals has opted to initially focus on establishing a project that processes the high-grade quartz ore found on the surface.
The company announced a joint venture with Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners last week that will accelerate exploration activities with the ambition to begin commercial mining within the next few years.
According to a Geoscience Australia report released last year, quartz is the only naturally occurring and economically viable raw material used to produce silicon, a critical mineral essential for semiconductors in electronics and solar panels.
The report said Australia was currently a net importer of quartz and it predicted global demand for the commodity would increase 40-fold by 2050.
As part of the project rollout, Quinbrook also plans to construct a state-of-the-art silicon smelter and polysilicon manufacturing facility in Townsville to process the quartz.
Mount Isa Minerals CEO Nicholas Huffels said the company had taken a portfolio approach to the various commodities located on its tenements, with quartz deemed the most economically viable to focus on initially to gain the necessary revenue to expand into other projects on the same lease area.
“From a strategic sequencing perspective, the quartz should be the most straightforward to get up and running – it sticks out of the ground like an iceberg, and it is easy to delineate where it is because it is shallow on the ground,” he said.
“It is a fast path to production hopefully with the support of the government in the permitting process and a fast path to revenue for Mount Isa Minerals.
“The tenements have been explored for copper and uranium in the past and, alongside our own low-level exploration, we have been able to consolidate 50 years of historical data to gain a really good picture of what is available.”
He said the quartz outcrops identified on the tenements were proving to be high grade, which would meet the demand for the commodity and lay a solid foundation for business expansion.
“Our focus at the moment is on de-risking the rest of our value and we are doing that by focusing on quartz at the moment, but our long game is to extract the copper,” he said.
“This collaboration with Quinbrook aims to not only unlock a new revenue stream for the collaboration but also contribute to regional economic growth and job creation in Mount Isa and the North West.
“By establishing a domestic supply of crucial silica materials, this initiative will strengthen Australia’s position in the renewable energy and advanced technology sectors.”