?PREMIER Campbell Newman is prepared to reconsider state government environmental legislation that might have caused the scrapping of the Mount Isa Mines open-pit project.
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Mr Newman launched the North West Queensland Strategic Development Study in Mount Isa yesterday, which contains information as to why Glencore did not find the open-pit mine financially viable.
The mine was dubbed the ``super pit'' and was expected to extend the mine life to 2060, but was scrapped in May last year, a week after Glencore's merge with Xstrata.
The study states that ``regulatory conditions'' required that waste rock dumps needed to be kept within the mine lease, while also not being visible to the Mount Isa community.
``Given the natural topography in the region, this obligation requires further lateral spreading and transportation of the tailings at significant cost to the project,'' the report said.
Mr Newman said he was willing to consult with the Mount Isa community regarding legislation that prevented profitability of the open pit.
``If the community want a debate about the future of the economic base, I'd welcome that,'' the Premier said.
``If it means the mine can continue to 2060 then we'd be happy to work on amended conditions that will still protect the town from environmental impacts, but would ?mean the mine could continue for another 45 years at least.''
Mr Newman said he questioned why the project has been listed as not feasible by Glencore.
However, he did make it clear he was not advocating for the mine to be reopened unless there was community support.
``I think the community is entitled to sit down and say `well, how can we look at those regulations that will ensure this town has a solid economic base for the next 45 years, or more', and that's what I'm saying today.''
State Member for Mount Isa Robbie Katter believed there would be expansions to the open-cut mine regardless of state government support. He did not believe the closure had anything to do with government legislation.
Mr Katter was ``confident'' the open-pit would reopen eventually.
``The opinion is that it's such a big reserve for such a big business they'll be foolish to walk away from it,'' he said.
A Glencore spokeswoman said the company had no further information regarding the Mount Isa open-pit project.
``I feel that what Mr Newman's comments are getting at go beyond Mount Isa Mines and our projects, but rather acknowledge the challenges common to all mineral deposits in the North West,'' she said.
??The spokeswoman did not confirm plans to reopen the pit.
Mount Isa Chamber of Commerce manager Joyce McCulloch said the chamber supported any projects in the North West region that could be considered for development.
