Glencore won’t lay it on line
THE Canadian mining company planning a big base metals mine in northwest Queensland has enthusiastically endorsed plans to connect the Mount Isa region to the National Electricity Market.
But the region’s major miner, Glencore, has declined to comment directly on this week’s State Government’s announcement it would help fund the Copperstring transmission line project or whether it thought the line would benefit it or the region.
Copper Mountain Mining Corporation wants to develop a $382 million copper and gold mine about 200km north of Mount Isa called the Eva Copper Project.
“We certainly see this project as a benefit to the region and other copper mines as well,” Copper Mountain vice president, corporate development Letitia Wong said.
“Eva Copper would benefit from this project through lower prices. We value the support of the local community and likewise we also prioritise being able to give back.”
Glencore is one of the five Copperstring foundation customers that would get access to the network if the transmission line were built. But when approached this week for comment, it was noncommittal.
“Our North Queensland copper and zinc business is a large user of energy in Mount Isa and Townsville so we are continuing to explore economically feasible options to secure reliable and affordable energy across these operations,” the company said.
In the past, Glencore has warned its copper operations at Mount Isa and Townsville could close, costing up to 2000 jobs, partly because of the high cost of energy. Copperstring is promising a cut in power costs of up to 40 per cent.
Copperstring chairman John O’brien said Glencore had given it letters of support.
“They continue to be engaged with us on the same basis as other major users in the North West,” he said.
Mount Isa-based MP Robbie Katter said Glencore may be weighing up whether the Government would further support copper manufacturing. The state’s funding of Copper-String was “wonderful” but more support was needed for copper smelting and refining.